


The New Darkness

by nothingwithoutyouxo



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Slow Build, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-23
Updated: 2018-05-09
Packaged: 2018-09-01 15:48:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 26,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8630158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nothingwithoutyouxo/pseuds/nothingwithoutyouxo
Summary: Voldemort may be defeated but there are more evils in the world. Aside from the Dark Lord and his followers there are evils that lurk among ordinary witches and wizards. And of course, there are the evils within.When Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy went back decades, uncovering a new future that should not have been seen by anyone in their fourth year, they unleashed something that they could never have known or understood. Unless the rest of the wizarding world realises this and prevents it then it could bring the destruction of their world as they knew it to be.





	1. Prologue: Bad Things Happen To Wizards That Meddle With Time

**Author's Note:**

> I can't even say "I'm back" because I was never truly gone, but alas here I am with this new fic that is quite different to 'Come On Mess Me Up' but hopefully still good? I know a lot of you liked that one.  
> It's been a few months since I read The Cursed Child and I don't quite remember it in its entirety but it did seem like there was really no long-term consequences to Albus and Scorpius travelling back literal decades in time and messing around (unless there was and I just don't remember them?). So this fic is an exploration of what I think could have happened if there were those consequences. You know, since bad things are supposed to happen to wizards that meddle with time. I've had this idea for a while, friends, and I hope you like it :)

Time travel is a very particular practice. It’s dangerous to even consider the thought. The only witch or wizard to be trusted with even the idea of it has to be immensely powerful and incredibly loyal. If the fate of time falls into the wrong hands the effects could be disastrous. The most common amount of time to return to is within a span of a few hours, or within a day. Anything beyond that is risky. The past is not to be messed with. 

 

However pure the intentions of Albus Potter were when he located a time turner in his fourth year, the result of his actions could bring the wizarding world into turmoil. Instead of mere hours both he and Scorpius Malfoy went back decades, uncovering a new future that should not have been seen by anyone. Whether alternate realities existed or not, they were to be kept separate. When the two boys travelled back to 1994 they unleashed something that they could never have known or understood. Unless the rest of the wizarding world realises this and prevents it then it could bring the destruction of their world as they knew it to be. 

 

***

 

Harry Potter shot up in bed one night out of pure shock for the second time that year. He thought that everything was over but maybe it had only just begun. There was a searing pain in his forehead. Something that had been dormant for years before a few weeks ago. He clasped a hand to his forehead absently, his other hand moving to gently shake his wife awake.

 

“Gin” he muttered, voice laced with sleep. “Ginny, wake up” he shook her a little harder.

 

“What is it?” she muttered, not even opening her eyes.

 

“My scar” he said. “My scar’s still hurting”.

 

Ginny’s eyes flew open at that. She sat up quickly, grabbing her husband’s face in her hands and scanning for any kind of sign of why this could be happening. Not again. Voldemort was dead. There was nothing that could hurt them now. She could see the confusion reflected in Harry’s eyes. He had as much of a clue as she did. Ginny let go of Harry’s face gently and reached for her watch. The hands for her and Harry were stilled at ‘Home’. The hands of her three children were resting against ‘School’. They were all still at Hogwarts. They were safe. What could be causing this? She looked back at her husband, whose hand had gone back to hovering over his scar absently. 

“I have no idea” she said to him. “All the kids are at Hogwarts”. 

 

“He’s dead” Harry whispered. “I’ve killed him more than once. He has to be dead”.

 

“I know” Ginny replied. “We’ll figure this out. I promise”.

 

***

 

The grounds of Hogwarts were silent apart from the occasional sound made by a magical creature somewhere in the distance. The moon was hovering happily in the sky, shining her pale light on the grounds. All the students, house elves and even the ghosts were sleeping away for the night. None of them could possibly know just how terrible things were going to become. Though it would start off with just a few people the ripples that it would create would potentially affect all of them. 

 

Underneath the Black Lake, within the Slytherin dorm Scorpius Malfoy shot up in his bed. He reached for his neck absently, hoping to grasp onto something that he’d been keeping there for weeks. When his hand grasped onto nothing he panicked. Knowing that he couldn’t turn on any sort of light because it would wake his roommates he carefully and quietly as possibly reached for his bed side table, hoping to find it there. When his hand came across nothing his brain seemed to short-circuit. 

 

“Albus” he whispered in the direction of his best friend’s bed, shuffling over so he was closer to the side of his bed adjacent to Albus.

 

“Wut?” Albus muttered, still heavy with sleep and unwilling to wake up entirely. 

 

“Albus, are you alive?” Scorpius muttered. 

 

Albus opened his eyes slowly, blinked rapidly until Scorpius became clearer to him. “If I’m dead then I must be in heaven because you’re here” he said. 

 

“I think I lost the time turner. Albus, I’m so sorry”.

 

“The time turner?” Albus rubbed at his eyes absently, turning on his side so he could face his best friend entirely. “Scorpius, we got rid of the time turner” he reminded, confused. “It’s been gone for weeks”.

 

“What do you mean?” he muttered.

 

“I think the Ministry took it. Or destroyed it. I can’t remember which” Albus explained. “When we got back from the past. Don’t you remember?”.

 

Scorpius blinked at him for a moment, trying to search his memory. “Oh” he muttered. “Of course they did”.

 

“Scorp, are you ok?” Albus asked. 

 

Scorpius could tell that his friend was turning from sleepy to worried. He almost regretted waking him. “Yeah” he tried to smile. “I’m ok”.

 

“No you’re not. Tell me what’s wrong. Was it another bad dream?” Albus asked. “You can tell me about it. Really”.

 

A bad dream.  _ (Albus, are you alive? _ ). Yes, Scorpius decided. It was definitely a bad dream. “I don’t know if you know this” Scorpius whispered, twisting his hands in his sheets absently, “but a world without you isn’t a world at all. It’s a nightmare”. He looked up again in time to see the hurt make its way onto his best friend’s face.

 

“Scorpius, I’m sorry you had to see that. If I could take those memories away from you I would. Truly. But I’m safe now. Me and Rose. We’re both back and we’re both alive and my dad’s still alive and you fixed it, you fixed everything”.

 

“It doesn’t feel fixed, Al”.

 

“I know. It’ll take time but it’ll get better. I know it will”.

  
“What if it gets worse?” he asked. It was a thought that had stayed on his mind since they’d returned from the past. What if he was never able to get over what he’d seen? What if he was haunted by it forever? 

 

“I’ll be here” Albus stated. “Through all of it. I’ll be here and I won’t leave your side. I promise”.

 

Scorpius smiled at that. “That’s actually a really nice thought” he muttered. 

 

“I was forced to leave you once and I’ll never do it again”.

 

“That wasn’t your fault”.

 

“I know” Albus smiled. “If you have another nightmare again just wake me up, ok?”.

 

“Are you sure?”.

 

“Of course. We’ll fight through this together”.

 

“Thank you” Scorpius whispered.

 

“Goodnight, Scorp”.

  
“Night, Al”.


	2. Something Wicked This Way Comes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so I lied and I'm posting this now. It makes sense to me since the prologue was so short anyway. And technically this has already been proofread by my beta so it's good to go. I hope you all like it!

Rose Granger-Weasley was starting to find it considerably harder to sleep since the time turner incident. She either found herself drowning in worry or drowning in guilt. She’d treated her cousin horribly since they’d started at Hogwarts and she wasn’t sure if she could ever forgive herself. Albus could have died. Then what would she have done? She’d spent the last few weeks apologising to him and trying her best to make it up to him. She’d even bought him some of his favourite sweets the last time she’d gone to Hogsmeade with her friends. She’d remembered of course what those were. She’d even become friendly enough with Scorpius, who she’d also treated terribly. Rose didn’t have the best track record with people she knew she cared about. She and Albus were best friends before they started Hogwarts. Maybe the two of them could return to that. 

 

Rose wasn’t usually one to rise early but since she’d been having trouble sleeping she’d found herself getting up earlier and earlier. She often spent some time in the common room before she headed down to breakfast with her friends but this time she decided that food with be a good way to start. She was desperately craving a cup of tea. Chamomile preferably. She was just making her way towards the exit when her cousin stood purposely in her way.

 

“Rosey” he greeted her.

 

“James” she replied. 

 

“Can you feel that?” he asked. James had always been a little eccentric so she shouldn’t have been surprised at the strange question but there was a far off look in his eye that he only got when something wasn’t going too well. She didn’t see it often, just occasionally around exam times and when he was grossly hungover.

 

“Are you ok?” she asked, turning serious.

 

“It feels horrible. I don’t know if you can feel it at all but it feels like something’s about to go terribly, terribly wrong” he continued.

 

Rose reached a hand absently to her cousin’s forehead. He didn’t have a fever or anything. “Did you sleep ok?” she asked him.

  
“The worry eats away at you doesn’t it?”.

 

“James” she muttered, snapped her fingers in front of his face to try and get his attention. “Look at me. What’s wrong? What can you feel?”.

 

‘I’m so worried about Albus” he admitted. James had always been close to his brother. When he found out that other kids were bullying him in his first few years James had always defended him. Even when Lily started school, she did the same. The Potter siblings were always protective of each other. “I don’t get feelings like this very often but over the last few months it’s been so set in stone. And I thought it would go away after the time turner thing but it hasn’t and I’m concerned”.

 

“Have you talked to your dad about it?” she asked.

 

He shook his head. 

 

“Your mum?”.

 

Another shake.

 

“Have you spoken to anyone?” she pressed.

 

“Not even McGonagall though I’m starting to think I should”.

 

“You definitely should” Rose confirmed. “If you’re still feeling this way then it must be some kind of warning”.

 

“What do you think it’s a warning for?” he asked her, voice quieter.

 

Rose grimaced. “It’s not something I want to think about” she answered. 

 

“I can’t blame you”.

 

“If this feeling is as bad as you say then I assume the worst is yet to come”.

 

James nodded slowly. “Maybe if Albus wasn’t as righteous as he is this all wouldn’t have happened” he mused. 

 

“It’s the ancient Gryffindor in him coming out” she muttered.

 

He laughed at that. “Maybe it’s all his cunning” he smirked. 

 

“That would probably do it” Rose returned his smirk. 

 

“I know you two are starting to become friends again and I think it’s wonderful, but can you maybe keep an extra eye on him? Just until this feeling goes away?”.

 

“Of course” she agreed. 

 

“I’m sorry. I know you were headed to breakfast” James apologised, moving out of her way. 

 

“I’m surprised you’re up this early actually”.

 

“Transfiguration quiz” he shrugged. “Need to actually study for it”.

 

“You should have studied last night” she chastised. 

 

“My friends are as distracting as can be” he replied.

 

Rose smiled at that, patted him on the shoulder absently. “Well good luck and keep me updated on this feeling” she said.

 

“I will”.

 

Rose made her way down to the Great Hall. The castle was still mostly asleep and she knew that there would hardly be anyone in there at this time. Maybe she could sneak some more food than usual without feeling guilty. There would be enough for everyone else anyway. There always was. Since she’d come down without her friends she decided that rather than sit by herself she’d sit with Albus and Scorpius, who she quickly spotted at the far end of the Slytherin table. Scorpius was picking absently at a piece of toast while Albus only had a cup of coffee sitting in front of him. Everyday they seemed to be more tired than the last and she wondered if James’ bad feeling would ring true for all of them. After what they’d been through she could understand. It had taken her Uncle Harry decades to get over seeing Voldemort. Who knew how long it would take them. 

 

Rose sat down across from the two of them, enchanting a spare mug to prepare her tea for her. She leaned forward, resting against the table. “Morning” she smiled.

 

“It’s good to know that you’re alive too” Scorpius muttered, seemingly more to himself than to her.

 

“Huh?”.

 

“Bad dream” Albus supplied.

 

“Another one? The sleeping draught Madam Pomfrey gave you isn’t helping?” Rose asked, concerned. 

 

Scorpius shook his head slowly. He was staring down at his toast, not looking at either of them. His left hand was holding onto Albus’ wrist as if he needed to be reminded that the other boy was still there. Was still alive. Rose didn’t want to think about what he’d seen in his nightmare. Albus had told her that Scorpius had seen a reality where neither of them existed. Somehow she assumed he’d been reliving that.

 

“You’re up early” Albus commented. His free hand was drawing lazy circles on the back of Scorpius’ hand. It was such an affectionate gesture that Rose couldn’t help but smile at it.

 

“I couldn’t sleep” she answered, shrugging and taking a sip of her tea. 

 

“It’s straining, isn’t it?”.

 

“Horribly so. Have you studied for the charms quiz?”.

 

“My brain’s been a little scattered lately so I haven’t”.

 

“He’s been worried about me” Scorpius interjected. “You should stop doing that, it’s affecting your studies”.

 

Albus looked over at him for a moment. “You’re more important. You know that”.

 

Scorpius looked at Rose, his expression some mix of fondness, concern and almost exasperation. Somehow she knew exactly what he meant. 

 

“It’ll be fine. It’s not going to be a difficult quiz” Rose smiled reassuringly. “You’ll both be fine”.

 

“After all we’ve been through this year I highly doubt that a charm quiz is our biggest worry” Albus shrugged.

 

“You’re right”.

 

Rose jumped slightly as Lily came to sit next to her. “Morning!” she beamed at them all. Lately Lily had spent more time checking up on her brother and Scorpius, knowing that the two of them needed as many eyes on them as possible. The time turner thing had freaked her out a little and even though she was only twelve she knew that she had to help somehow. 

 

“Morning, Lily” Albus replied, drinking some of his coffee. 

 

Lily started piling some food onto her plate. “You know it’s weird sitting up here. I’ve never really been at the Slytherin table before” she said.

 

“It’s about the same as all the other tables” Albus shrugged. “Just with more dark magic swirling through the wood”. Scorpius flinched and he regretted the comment immediately but Lily laughed so maybe it was half worth it.

 

“You know, dad told me once that lots of Slytherins stayed back during the Battle of Hogwarts. I think you’re all redeemed because of them.

 

“I’m grateful” Albus smirked, starting to draw circles on Scorpius’ hand again to help him stay calm. 

 

Lily looked over at Rose, a playful expression on her face. Rose just rolled her eyes at her, a moment of silent communication passing between them.

 

“You’re never up this early, Lil” Albus mused.

 

“Truthfully I just wanted to get all the good pastries” she beamed. “You have to get in early for these” she tapped her plate. 

 

“I think the house elves use them as motivation” Rose laughed.

 

“I would if I were them”.

 

“Well it definitely works then” Albus mused.

 

The Great Hall steadily filled with the rest of the students. Eventually Lily spotted her friends and headed off to sit with them. Soon enough there was the flutter of owls as the post arrived. Two owls settled in front of the two boys. Albus scratched the snowy owl’s head as he untied his letter. Scorpius let his nibble on a bit of his toast. Their parents had written to them every day since they’d all returned from the past. Mostly it was mundane things but it was a good distraction from the horrors and worries that their thoughts had become. A parcel dropped in front of Rose and she beamed, giving her owl a little pat before it flew off again. 

 

“Mum, you legend” she smiled. Hermione often sent her books to read but this time the package was much larger, and it contained a very special book. A book about time-turners that she’d asked for. She needed to research. Especially if James had some sort of horrible feeling. 

 

“New book?” Albus asked as if it wasn’t obvious. 

 

Rose nodded slowly. She hugged the book to her chest, not wanting to open it in front of the two of them. She didn’t want them to know what she was up to. Not until she found something useful at least. “How are things over at Malfoy Manor?” she asked, looking at Scorpius who was reading over his letter.

 

“Standard as usual. My grandma dropped by with some new books and I should be receiving them soon” he said, a smile tempting him. 

 

Albus knew that if there was one thing that the two of them could talk about for hours it would be books. So he zoned out as they started their conversation about them, instead focusing on draining the rest of his coffee and actually getting some food into his system. 

 

***

 

James Potter was more than grateful that free periods existed in the wizarding world as well as the muggle one. Sometimes he just needed a break from his studies, or he had a lot of work to catch up on and the extra time helped immensely with that. This time there was something much more important that he needed to discuss. Professor McGonagall had taken over the office that once belonged to Albus Dumbledore. There was no doubt when she’d assumed her position as headmaster that she would continue being head of Gryffindor House. James thought sometimes that even if she hadn’t she’d still have kept a close eye on them all. For some reason the password for the office had remained ‘sherbert lemon’ for as long as James could remember. It was probably just in memory of Dumbledore but even so he thought that maybe it should be changed to something else. Maybe with the word lemon still in it. Even after all this time the gargoyle was still as impressive as ever. It slide away from the wall and James made his way to the door, knocking politely.

 

When James opened the door he was surprised to find that Professor McGonagall wasn’t alone. Even more surprising was that his parents were in the room. Harry and Ginny were standing in the middle of the room. Ginny had her arm around her husband and James seemed to have walked in on some kind of moment the three of them were having. 

 

“Mr. Potter” Professor McGonagall greeted. She was standing in front of the Potter parents as if trying to comfort them but looked up at him as he entered.

  
“If I’m interrupting something I can come back” James muttered, taking a quick step backwards towards the door. He locked eyes with his mother, silently asking her what was wrong.

 

“Come in, James” she said instead. James was struck immediately by the use of his first name.

 

“Is something wrong?” he asked, walking to stand next to his parents. Harry was avoiding his eyes and that only made him more nervous.

 

Professor McGonagall and Ginny shared a look, as if deciding how much they should tell him. “One matter at a time, Mr. Potter”.

 

James realised that everyone was looking at him expectantly, except for his father who was still staring at the ground in front of him. “I’m worried about Albus” he said. There was a pause and everyone looked at each other, even Harry finally raised his head. James noticed immediately that he looked like a mess. He probably hadn’t slept and seemed distraught. 

 

“Why?” Ginny asked, worry overcoming her features. 

 

“I have this bad feeling” he explained. “I’ve had it since what happened with the time turner but that’s over and it hasn’t gone away and I don’t know why but I’m really concerned that something bad is happening. I’m worried about Scorpius too. Everything seems to be centered around the two of them”.

 

His parents shared a look. 

 

“What?” he asked them.

 

Harry sighed and ran a hand first through his hair and then over his forehead. “My scar …” he hesitated. “It’s still …”.

 

“Again? But Voldemort’s dead. He has to be dead”.

 

“I know”.

 

“Then how could it be hurting?”.

 

Harry looked at his wife. 

 

“We don’t know” Ginny supplied, “But if you have this bad feeling as well then something must still be happening”.

 

“What could possibly still be happening? The time turner was destroyed wasn’t it?” James asked, eyes flicking between the three adults.

 

“Yes” Professor McGonagall answered.

 

“James, just keep an eye on your brother. And Scorpius. We have to figure this out” Ginny said. 

 

James nodded slowly.

 

“We have to alert the Ministry” McGonagall added. “Mr. Potter, thank you for this information. Please return to your classes now”.

  
James gave both of his parents a hug before leaving the office. Once he was out in the corridor he made a beeline for the potions classroom, knowing that’s where Rose would be. Obviously he couldn’t interrupt her class but he would need to speak to her as soon as it was over. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you've read my other fics you'll know about my love for a fierce protectiveness/friendship between all the Potter siblings/cousins (+ Scorpius) and there will be no shortage of that in this one, don't you worry.  
> I'll see you all next week!


	3. Remember To Turn On The Light

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here's the thing, I have absolutely no chill when it comes to posting things. I just wanna post all the time because I love writing this, posting this and sharing it and all that fun stuff.  
> Anyways, here's the new chapter. It features Rose and James trying to work out the weird situation everyone's found themselves in and some sad Albus and Scorpius fluff. I hope you all like it!  
> (side note: I know Albus isn't the Slytherin seeker in CC but I love Seeker!Albus too much to let him go so there's going to be a slight change from canon there)

There were dozens of other Hogwarts students in the courtyard, making it the perfect place for conversations to get lost in the wind around them. James and Rose were sitting on one of the many benches located throughout the grounds. Rose had her time turner book, still yet unpackaged held to her chest. She was looking at her cousin with the utmost attention, hanging on to every word he was saying.

 

“So I went to McGonagall’s office and my parents were in there which was very strange. My dad seemed to be really upset and he wasn’t looking at me at all but when I mentioned Albus he shot right up. It turns out that his scar’s been hurting. And even if Voldemort  _ is  _ dead there has to be something causing that”.

  
“He couldn’t have another horcrux” Rose mused. “Our parents destroyed all of those”.

 

“He has to be dead. But there must be something else?”.

 

“Could it be Delphi?” Rose asked.

 

“She’s in Azkaban. I doubt she could cause anything like that. If his scar didn’t sting for the rest of her existence I doubt it’d start now”. 

 

Rose faltered for a moment. She was lost in her own thoughts, trying to figure this all out. There had to some kind of connection. There was James’ bad feeling and now Harry’s scar hurting. If they somehow managed to factor Scorpius’ nightmares and Albus’ steadily growing paranoia then who knows what it could all mean. They needed to research. Rose gazed down at the book in her arms. “This is a book on time turners” Rose said, looking up at James. “It’s actually hidden in the restricted section of the library but my mum managed to get me a copy. I’m not supposed to have it, let alone read it but I know it’ll be able to help us. At least, I hope it will”.

 

“We have to start somewhere” James replied. “And sneaking in a forbidden book is  _ definitely  _ the nerdiest thing you’ve ever done” he smirked.

 

Rose rolled her eyes at him. She’d gotten used to his teasing. “If the book helps us figure all this out then I think any other consequences will be worth it” she said.

 

“Your dedication to helping your family is impressive”.

 

“It’s not just my family. It’s Scorpius too” she reminded.

 

“Ah, but he’s basically family as well. I mean, have you seen the way Al looks at him?” he teased, nudging her.

 

“You mean behind all the worry and internalised guilt?” she asked. 

 

“Exactly”.

 

Rose laughed at that. “I think that’s something they’ll have to figure out on their own. I  _ can _ say that I’ve never been happier to turn a guy down before” she winked. 

 

James burst into a fit of laughter. Not recovering for a good few minutes, and a few dozen stares later. “I’d be more than happy to lend a hand but I think fate has this one covered” he smiled.

 

“We’ll just have to wait and see, won’t we?”.

 

“Well, are you going to open that book or not?” he nudged her again. “I can’t believe you haven’t even unwrapped it yet. You usually tear the paper open over breakfast”.

 

“I was sitting with Albus and Scorpius. I didn’t want them to know what was in it” she shrugged.

 

“Maybe the fact that you hid it from them made it even more suspicious”.

 

“I highly doubt that”. Rose looked around them carefully, making sure that no one was looking in their direction. It wouldn’t be helpful at all if someone decided to tell Professor McGonagall that she was harbouring an illegal book. Rose slowly untied the bow made of string, taking extra care not to rip any of the brown wrapping paper. She’d need it later to hide the book in again. 

 

“This is tedious” James sighed. “Get  _ on  _ with it!”.

 

“Patience, Potter” she smirked. 

 

“I don’t have any of that!”.

 

***

 

“I really think we should go back to Madam Pomfrey. If the sleeping draught she made you isn’t working then maybe she can make you something stronger. Or just something different” Albus was saying. He was walking down towards the quidditch pitch for practice with Scorpius at his side. His broom was thrown over one shoulder. Quidditch had become an outlet for him. He’d always been good at it, and being the seeker on the Slytherin team was quite a privilege. Albus almost used quidditch as an escape at this point. He and Scorpius were walking close enough together that their arms were touching. It was a kind of intimacy that they’d found comforting in the passing weeks since the time turner incident. 

 

“I really don’t think it’s worth bothering her about, Al” Scorpius replied. He was carrying a book under one arm. Some muggle story that Rose had given him, hoping it would distract him from his thoughts.

 

“What do you mean? It’s your health, Scorp, that’s always worth it”.

 

He smiled at that, nudged Albus’ arm with his gently. “You just worry about quidditch practice and I’ll worry about my sleeping pattern, ok?”.

 

“I wish it was as easy as that” Albus sighed.

 

Scorpius didn’t know how to reply to that so the two of them continued in silence the rest of the way to the quidditch pitch. Albus was one of the first few team members to arrive so he struck up a conversation with the captain about the next game. Scorpius mentioned something about wanting to get a start on the book so he made his way up to the empty Slytherin stands and took a seat. The book wasn’t nearly as distracting as he needed it to be but it was something.

 

“How’s he doing?” one of the chaser’s asked Albus, waving a hand in the direction of Scorpius.

 

“Not good” Albus grimaced, looking down at the ground. “It’s affecting him a lot more than he wants to admit”.

 

“I’m sorry” she said, placing a hand on Albus’ shoulder gently. “I’m sure it’ll just take him some time to get over what happened”. The details hadn’t spread around the castle but there was about a million different rumours flying around. Albus wasn’t sure which one she’d heard but she seemed genuinely concerned for Scorpius. 

 

“I suppose” Albus shrugged. He wasn’t really sure if Scorpius would ever get over it, but he could hope. 

 

There was a cheer and Albus looked up as their last team member ran out onto the field.

  
“And the keeper finally decides to show himself!” the captain called, smirking.

 

“Sorry!” their keeper called back. “I don’t even have a good reason”.

 

“Doesn’t matter. Let’s start practicing”.

 

***

 

Scorpius had never been good at quidditch. When he was younger his parents had tried to teach him how to ride a broom so they could start their family games. Scorpius had never been the greatest fan of heights and flying was something that involved that. He preferred to remain with his feet firmly on the ground. Being on top of the Hogwarts Express with Albus Potter earlier that year was definitely one of the most terrifying things he’d ever experienced. He did like quidditch though, as he admired it from afar. He would never miss one of Albus’ games, no matter how much work he had to do. Quidditch was a decent way to spend the afternoon, whether Albus was playing or not. Scorpius gazed up from his book and down at the pitch. Practice seemed to be over, the team was slowly packing away the quaffles and bludgers, The snitch was safely locked away and Albus had struck up a conversation with one of the beaters. Scorpius closed his book and started making his way down to the pitch. He waited quietly on the outskirts of the pitch, not wanting to disturb the team. Albus was smiling and it wasn’t a sight that he’d seen much of in the last few weeks. 

 

“I really think we have a good shot next week” Albus said to him as he approached. They fell into step next to each other. The rest of the quidditch team had started off at a run, probably to try and make it to the showers first. Albus didn’t seem fussed. There was dirt in his hair and on his quidditch robes but Scorpius hadn’t seen him this happy in a long time.

 

“It’s against Hufflepuff, isn’t it?” he asked. Trying to recall the last game they’d seen. The memory of it seemed to be fuzzy for some reason.

 

Albus nodded, fiddling with his broom absently. “They’re stronger than ever this year. I think we have a really good shot though” he beamed up at him.

 

Scorpius felt like he was melting. He couldn’t help but return the smile. “You’ll smash them” he replied.

 

“You’re coming aren’t you? Rose mentioned that you could sit in Gryffindor stands with her, James and Lily if you like. I think Hugo is coming as well”.

 

“Al, of course I’m coming” Scorpius nudged him fondly. “I can’t just miss seeing my best friend win a game for his team”.

 

Albus laughed at that. 

 

“And if it’s ok, I’ll sit with them in the Gryffindor stands” he added.

 

“It’s great. All my favourite people in one place” he smiled.

 

“What about your parents?” Scorpius teased.

 

“Most of my favourite people in one place” Albus amended. 

 

Scorpius smirked and nudged him again. “You’re happy” he said.

 

“Of course I am. You’re here aren’t you?” Albus looked up at him.

 

“It feels like I haven’t seen you smile in a while” he shrugged.

 

“Was that meant to rhyme?”.

 

Scorpius rolled his eyes. 

 

“Are you happy?” Albus asked.

 

“I want to be” he muttered. “The bad dream is still kind of … lingering at the edge of my mind” he explained.

 

Albus’ smile faltered and Scorpius instantly wished that he’d kept that to himself. “Is there anything I can do?” he asked.

 

Scorpius shook his head. “I don’t think there’s anything anyone can do” he said.

 

“Well you can wake me up at any time, ok? I don’t care when it is or how many times you do it. We can fight through this together”.

 

Scorpius smiled at that. He couldn’t help himself. He was lucky to have a best friend as amazing as Albus. 

 

***

Rose had taken over one of the tables in the Gryffindor common room. She’d decided that seeming as inconspicuous as possible was the way to tackle this, so she’d set up some parchment and a few of her textbooks to make it seem like she was studying. The time turner book was sitting in front of her. Skimming it was not an option. She might miss something. So she’d been slowly reading every single page. She wasn’t surprised when James dropped into the empty seat across from her. 

 

“How’s the essay going?” he asked, a little louder than necessary. 

 

“James, bringing attention to us isn’t going to help the situation” she rolled her eyes, looking up from the book.

 

“I thought it would make us seem normal” he shrugged.

 

Rose shook her head. “It makes us seem like we’re up to something”.

 

James leaned forward, elbows resting against the table. He poked one of her textbooks gently. “This was a clever idea” he said.

 

“I’m very clever” she replied easily.

 

“So have you found anything?” James asked, dropping his voice so that no one could hear them.

 

She shook her head slowly. “So far it’s just the history of the time turners. Nothing yet on the effects of using them”.

 

“Bollocks” James sighed, leaning back in his chair.

  
“Language” Rose chastised automatically.

 

“Since when do you care about what  _ language  _ I use?” he teased.

 

“It’s habit. I have to keep reminding Hugo to be careful in front of our parents” she shrugged.

 

“I’m not surprised. That kid’s on a whole new level”.

 

“It’s just a little concerning”.

 

“He’ll definitely be more than qualified to take over Weasley Wizard Wheezes once he graduates” James laughed.

 

“What a horrible thought” Rose grimaced. 

 

“Well, if you don’t mind I’m just going to sit here and hope that you find something within the next few hours” James shrugged, settling in his chair. 

 

“I don’t know how I feel about you watching me while I read” she answered.

 

“Have you seen Albus today?” he asked.

 

Rose shook her head. “Not since breakfast. He had quidditch practice”.

 

“I hope he’s doing ok”.

 

“I don’t think he’s been doing ok all year” she muttered.

 

***

 

Albus was awoken to the sounds of someone muttering under their breath next to him. He knew automatically that it was Scorpius. He’d had another nightmare again. Albus rolled onto his side so that he was facing his best friend. He’d seen Scorpius after a nightmare before. He’d heard the quiet mutterings as if he was continuing to relive it even after being awake. He’d seen how pale the other boy gets, ghostly pale. Seen how Scorpius pulled at the ends of his hair, making it stick up in all directions as if he was somehow trying to expel the thoughts from his brain. Tonight was no different. Albus cast a quick glance around the room. Fortunately none of their other roommates had woken up. Albus didn’t think before he acted. He got up quickly, grabbing his wand from his bedside table and bounced over to Scorpius’ bed. Scorpius looked up at him as he came to take a seat next to him. 

 

“Albus? Did I wake you? I’m so sorry” he muttered.

 

“Shhh” Albus whispered, letting Scorpius grab his free hand. “ _ Insulato” _ he said, pointing his wand. He’d never been more grateful to overhear someone say what the sound-proofing charm was. He just wished he didn’t have to use it under these circumstances. Albus dropped his wand on the bed easily, taking Scorpius’ other hand. “What happened?” he asked seriously, voice still quiet even though he knew no one would be able to hear them.

 

Scorpius shook his head slowly, squeezed Albus’ hands and started playing absently with his fingers to distract himself. 

 

“Scorp, you can tell me” he reassured. “You can tell me anything”.

 

Scorpius looked up at him again and Albus could see the extent of the panic in his eyes. It had been worse tonight. Whatever he’d seen. It’d been worse than usual. 

 

“Talk to me” Albus pleaded. 

 

He gazed around the room quickly, as if double checking that everyone else was asleep. “Are you sure?” he asked quietly.

 

Albus nodded, moved ever closer to him. “Of course I am”.

 

“It was worse” he whispered.

 

“I know”.

 

“How?”.

 

“Because I know you” Albus smiled faintly.

 

Scorpius tried to return the smile but it came out a little twisted. He looked down at their hands again instead. “The Scorpion King was there” he said.

 

“The one from the other reality?” Albus asked.

 

Scorpius nodded. “He’s always there but …” he trailed off, shaking his head.

 

“It’s ok” Albus reassured. “You can tell me”.

 

Scorpius looked up at him for a moment, as if deciding whether to tell him or not. He shook his head slowly and looked down again. “He killed you” he whispered, voice cracking just slightly. “I … I killed you, Albus”.

 

_ Oh _ . No wonder it had been worse then. “You didn’t kill me, Scorp. The Scorpion King did, and it was just a nightmare. I’m right here” he squeezed his hands gently, “and very much alive”.

 

“Albus” Scorpius muttered, still not looking at him. “What if I  _ am  _ the Scorpion King? I mean, he was me. He  _ is  _ me. What if I .. become him”.

 

“No” Albus interrupted. “Scorpius, you’re not him. And you never will be”.

 

“But he  _ was  _ me. If I had the capacity for evil then, maybe I still have it now”.

 

“Scorpius, there’s not an evil bone in your body”.

 

“What if it’s some kind of prophecy?” Scorpius looked up at him. “Albus, I don’t want to hurt you”.

 

“You’re not going to” Albus said. “I know you’re not”.

 

“What if we merged when I was in the other reality? What if he’s in me somewhere waiting to come out?” Scorpius asked.

 

Albus shook his head again. “You’re you, Scorpius. If you were someone else, I would know”.

  
“He could be dormant for now. What if I brought him back with me?”.

 

“You didn’t. You couldn’t have”.

 

“But what if I  _ did _ ? The nightmares could be a warning, Albus -”.

 

“They’re not, Scorpius. It’s post traumatic stress. It’s what my dad has. It’s just your mind’s way of dealing with what you saw” Albus explained. 

 

Scorpius shook his head. “I want to believe you”.

 

“Then believe me” he muttered.

 

Scorpius looked up at him again and nodded. Albus could tell that there were still a lot of thoughts battling within him. 

 

He pulled Scorpius into a hug easily. “We’ll get through this together. I know we will” he said. 

 

Scorpius sniffled quietly. “Stay here tonight” he muttered.

 

“Honestly, Scorp, you’d have to forcibly push me off this bed to get me to move at this stage”. 

 

Albus was more than happy when he head Scorpius laugh a little at that. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me: I like these characters  
> me: time to fuck with them
> 
> I'll see you all soon!!


	4. Never Trust Anything

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't have much to say about this chapter. It hurts me to hurt these boys, it truly does, but I've been sitting on this idea for ages and so desperately wanted to write this story. I hope you all like this chapter.

Albus, Scorpius and Rose spent the majority of their spare time in the library. There was a table right up the back away from most of the students and they often found themselves there, studying for quizzes and completing essays. Albus was itching to tell Rose about the conversation he’d had with Scorpius the night before, or rather in the early hours of that morning, but he didn’t have cause to be alone with her. As much as he wanted to tell her he knew that he needed to keep an eye on his best friend. He was so incredibly worried about Scorpius, especially since he now knew the content of his nightmares. Rose mentioned something about needing another book for her Potions essay before disappearing into the shelves. Albus realised this was the perfect opportunity to speak to her without Scorpius present. 

 

“You should probably go and grab a copy of that other book. We’ll need it for our essay as well” Scorpius said, not looking up from his Herbology assignment. Albus wondered briefly if he could read minds.

 

“You’re right” he muttered. “Will you be ok?”.

 

Scorpius looked up at him for a moment. “Albus, I’ll be here the whole time. Don’t worry”.

 

“You know I always worry”.

 

“You should stop doing that”.

 

“Never” Albus smirked. He jumped up from his chair and went off in the direction that Rose had disappeared. He found her scanning a few of the shelves. She looked up at him as he stopped next to her.

 

“He knows there’s no other book that we need for this” Rose said to him.

 

“I know, but I think he also knows that I need to talk to you” Albus shrugged.

 

“Rough night?” she asked. The two boys had looked even more tired than usual, and they were being exceptionally more clingy than usual that day. Which was saying something.

 

“He had another nightmare” Albus explained. “It was worse this time”.

 

“It’s sweet of you to let him wake you every time, you know” she smirked. 

 

“I can’t let him suffer through it alone. You haven’t seen him when it happens. He looks so lost and disoriented and upset and it’s horrible. It’s so horrible”.

 

Rose sobered up quickly after that, she rested a hand against her cousin’s shoulder gently. “Albus, I’m sorry” she muttered.

  
“He told me about the nightmare” Albus whispered, looking at the ground instead of her. “He never tells me about them but this time he did”.

 

“What was it?”.

 

Albus hesitated, taking a deep breath to give himself the courage to answer her question. “The Scorpion King killed me” he said.

 

“The Scorpion King? From the other reality?” Rose asked, shocked. She’d heard a little about what had happened when Scorpius had been alone. Voldemort had been alive, Umbridge was headmaster and neither her or Albus existed. And Scorpius was some twisted version of himself in that world. The Scorpius that belonged there, at least.

 

Albus nodded slowly. “He can tell the difference, but he’s starting to think he  _ is  _ the Scorpion King. Or that he brought him back with him” he explained.

 

“But that’s ridiculous!”. Someone nearby shushed them and she lowered her voice again. “Scorpius isn’t evil. He’s the complete opposite”. 

 

“I know that. And I know that he’s him but he thinks it’s some kind of prophecy”.

 

Rose clasped a hand to her forehead. She hadn’t even thought about prophecies. Maybe that had something to do with this. Even just a small part of it. 

 

“What?” Albus asked, looking at her confused. 

 

“Long story” she muttered. “Scorpius isn’t evil and I doubt he ever will be”.

  
“I don’t know how to help him” Albus whispered. Rose was struck but just how  _ helpless  _ he looked. She’d never seen Albus look like that, she could almost feel the weight of the world crushing down on his shoulders. Of course he would feel like Scorpius was his entire world. “I don’t know what I can do. If I could take the nightmares away I would. I don’t even know if I can reassure him anymore. It seems to be working less and less” he continued.

 

“Al” she interrupted, squeezed his shoulder gently. “You’re doing everything you can. You can’t do any more than that”.

 

“It doesn’t feel like enough” he whispered.

 

“It’s more than enough. Scorpius knows how hard you’re trying. I’m sure of it”.

 

“Thanks Rose” he tried to smile faintly. It didn’t quite work.

 

“Albus, if you keep with these thought they’re going to run yourself into the ground” she said seriously. “I know you want to take care of Scorpius but you have to remember to take care of yourself just as much”.

 

He nodded. “We should get back”.

 

“Of course”.

 

***

 

Once the thoughts started Scorpius realised that he wasn’t able to stop them. Was he evil? He was sitting in Transfiguration with Albus next to him, fiercely writing notes. He wondered if Albus somehow knew he wasn’t paying attention and was writing notes for him as well. Somehow he wouldn’t have been surprised by that. But was he evil? He was a Malfoy. Historically his family had been pretty evil. His grandparents had been Death Eaters. Even his father had been a Death Eater for a period. But did that make him evil? Everyone thought he was Voldemort’s son. Even though it turned out that he wasn’t he still caught people looking at him the same way they had. They seemed to see him as evil. Everyone seemed to think that he was always waiting to cast some dark magic on them. But Scorpius didn’t even know any dark magic. It wasn’t something he wanted to know. 

 

Scorpius heard Albus move beside him. He adjusted his quill and kept writing. Scorpius looked to the front of the classroom. Professor McGonagall was lecturing them. His brain had tuned out whatever she’d been saying to white noise. He was almost tempted to raise his hand and ask her if she thought he was evil. Professor McGonagall would know that. He was in Slytherin. All bad wizards came from Slytherin. He thought about what Albus had said the other morning at breakfast (“It’s just like all the other tables except there’s more dark magic coursing through the wood”). Dark magic. Could that be absorbed? Could Scorpius have absorbed some dark magic while he was in the other reality. Was that inside him now? Is that where the Scorpion King would come from? Maybe the dark magic had been there the whole time. Albus would know the answer to that. 

 

Albus.

 

Scorpius thought about Albus. Albus had said that he wasn’t evil. Albus would know. He was his best friend after all. But Albus hadn’t been there to see what he’d seen. To feel what he’d felt. A world without Albus was an evil one. He’d been to a world without Albus. He must have brought some of that back with him. It must have seeped into his bones and his organs and stayed there. It must be tempting his mind in his sleep, causing his nightmares. He thought about hugging Albus in the lake after not seeing him for what felt like a lifetime. Albus was good, Albus wasn’t evil. Angsty sometimes but never evil. Maybe he needed to be more like Albus. That would keep the dark magic away, surely. There was a thought tugging at the edge of his mind. A thought that had been doing just that all day. It was a horrible, horrible thought but he knew that it would stick with him. He thought about Albus’ broken body on the ground. Scorpius’ wand in his hand, the killing curse on his lips. Scorpius felt his hand twist into Albus’ robes absently. He knew that somewhere in his brain he was trying to ground himself but he didn’t feel like a person anymore. He felt like he was floating. Out of the corner of his eye his saw his best friend turn to him, but he couldn’t seem to focus on that at all. 

 

“Scorpius are you ok?” the voice seemed so far off. “Scorpius, what is it?”.

 

Scorpius couldn’t hear anymore, not really. And his vision was getting blurry. He wasn’t sure what was happening. Maybe this is what it felt like to become evil. He couldn’t unsee dead Albus. He wanted to so desperately but he couldn’t push the thought away. Suddenly he felt like he was being consumed by darkness. He didn’t really feel anything anymore. 

 

To her credit, Professor McGonagall moved quickly. It was almost like she’d sensed Scorpius passing out before he really did, his body clambering to the floor was a crash. 

 

“Miss. Granger-Weasley, please assist Mr. Potter in helping Mr. Malfoy to the infirmary” she said. 

 

“Yes, Professor” Rose muttered, standing quickly. There was a shakiness to her voice that wasn’t usually present, giving away how worried she was. 

 

“Class is dismissed!”.

 

The students were quick to move, rushing towards the doors and breaking out into whispers as they went. Professor McGonagall kneeled down next to Albus, who was seemingly trying to shake Scorpius awake. 

 

“Albus, do you know what happened?” she asked him, voice gentle. 

 

Albus paused and looked up at her. She could see the worry and panic in his eyes. “His nightmares have been getting worse, Professor”, he explained, voice as shaky as Rose’s had been. “Last night they were as bad as they’ve been”

 

“Forgive me, Professor” Rose said, “but do you think this has any connection to Uncle Harry’s scar hurting?”.

 

She didn’t look surprised that Rose knew about that. James liked to talk more than should be possible. “I’m afraid, Miss. Granger-Weasley, that we have no choice but to entertain the possibility”.

 

“Why won’t he wake up?” Albus asked, voice cracking. 

 

“His body is probably just trying to recover” Rose tried to reassure him. “Come on, Madam Pomfrey will be able to help”. 

 

“Professor McGonagall, I think you should call his dad” Albus looked up at her again. “I really think having him here will help, somehow”.

 

She nodded solemnly. She’d need to contact the Potters again as well. It seemed this was all apart of something bigger. 

 

***

 

If there was one thing that Albus knew it was that Draco Malfoy was a force to be reckoned with when it came to his son. He was just slightly terrifying. Albus had never been in the position where he had very little family. Even if he hadn’t always felt like he belonged with his, he’d always had a large family. Scorpius only had his father and Albus thought that it made sense for them to be so protective of one another, since Scorpius was all Draco had as well. 

 

Albus’ parents arrived first. They were talking to Professor McGonagall and were standing far enough away that he couldn’t hear what they were saying. He wasn’t even sure if he wanted to. Albus was sitting next to Scorpius’ bed side. Rose was next to him, her arm around his shoulders trying to comfort him. It was taking him all his strength not to reach out and hold Scorpius’ hand. He knew that wasn’t really something that he could do. Somehow he could sense that Rose knew that, so she was trying to comfort him instead. Scorpius was pale, so very pale. Ever paler than he had been after the nightmare this morning. He wasn’t dead. Albus knew that he wasn’t but he was so terrified that he felt like he could lose his best friend at any moment. 

 

“He’s going to be ok, Al” Rose whispered to him. 

 

Albus didn’t say anything. He felt numb. He didn’t even know if he’d be able to talk at all in this moment. 

 

“Whatever this is, we’re going to figure it out. All of us” she declared. “We’ll work something out. We can fix this”.

 

There was a crash as the large double doors were forced open. Draco Malfoy made his way into the room. Albus would always have described the man as steely if he had to but he didn’t look like that now at all. He looked … frenzied, and insanely worried as he walked into the room. The doors closed loudly behind him but that didn’t seem to faze him at all. Albus wondered briefly what was going through his head. Draco paused for a moment, next to Harry, Ginny and Professor McGonagall. 

  
“Potters. Professor McGonagall” he greeted politely. “Is he …”.

 

“Very much alive” Ginny reassured, trying her best to smile at him. “Madam Pomfrey can still work miracles”.

 

“What happened?”.

 

“I’m afraid it’s hard to tell, Draco” Professor McGonagall replied. “He was in my class when it happened. 

 

“Mr. Malfoy” Albus said, voice thick with the unshed tears that he was withholding and shaking, “This is all my fault”.

 

Draco made his way over to Albus. Whatever Albus expected it wasn’t for the man to visibly soften while looking at him. He saw his eyes flick between him and Scorpius and back again quickly. “None of this is your fault, Albus” he replied.

 

Albus couldn’t remember Draco ever using his first name before, but his voice was the calm before the storm and Albus had a lot to get off his chest. He stood, walking around Rose and standing in front of him. “It is my fault” he repeated. “I eavesdropped on Amos Diggory's conversation with my dad. I decided that we needed to bring Cedric back from the dead. I decided that we needed to fix everything. Scorpius said that this was a bad idea. He knew that it was but he agreed to it anyway because he wanted to help me. He jumped off the train to follow me. When my dad banned us from seeing each other Scorpius held onto the time turner for me. I’m the one that convinced him to do this. I’m the one that told him we needed to fix it again. I’m the reason he went back in time again. I’m the reason that Scorpius saw Voldemort Day and everything else. I caused his nightmares. I did this to him. I …” Albus broke off, a sob overcoming him. He heard Rose sniffle behind him, knew that she wasn’t able to hold back her own tears any longer either. “I did  _ this  _ to him” he repeated before gasping for breath, a hand coming up to cover his mouth as he started crying even more. He’d hurt Scorpius. His best friend. He’d hurt his best friend. The one person that he loved more than anything. He’d almost died. 

 

There were probably a lot of ways that Draco could have reacted to that confession. Albus wasn’t sure how much he knew about what had happened over the past year but he’d needed to tell him anyway. He mostly expected Draco to get angry and probably yell at him for endangering his son, but that’s not what he did. Whatever he’d expected it wasn’t that Draco Malfoy would pull him, Albus Potter, into a hug. 

 

“You didn’t do this, Albus” he repeated. “It’s not your fault”.

 

Albus couldn’t bring himself to respond verbally so he just clung to Draco and hoped that he was right. His own brain was telling him a million other things and it was hard to convince himself that he wasn’t at fault. If he hadn’t decided to be righteous and help Delphie then none of this would have happened. 

 

“Albus, come here” he heard his mother’s voice. 

 

He pulled away, looking up apologetically at Draco but he seemed unfazed by it all. Albus let his mother pull him into a hug. He didn’t even complain when he felt his dad ruffle his hair because he knew that meant that he was just trying to help comfort him. 

 

“Mum, I don’t know how to help him” Albus whispered, burying his head against his mother’s shoulder. 

 

“I know” she replied. “I don’t either”.

 

There was a lull, a moment where everyone was lost in their own thoughts. Draco took Albus’ now vacant seat next to his son. The last time he’d seen someone this pale was when he last saw his wife before she died. He couldn’t escape the thoughts as much as he wanted to. Scorpius was going to be fine. Somehow. Albus pulled away from his mother, taking a few deep breaths and trying to keep himself calm. He needed to be brave. He needed to be brave like his parents always were, tapping into the Gryffindor side of himself he knew didn’t even exist. Rose stood and made her way over to her cousin, placing her hand on his shoulder gently to help ground him. She knew how panicky he could get and this would be no exception. She didn’t even want to know what was going on in his head right now. It would be far too painful. 

 

“Mr. Potter, is there anything that you believe we need to know about what happened in the lead up to this?” Professor McGonagall asked.

 

Harry looked up at her, confused for a moment before remembering that she was referring to Albus. He was too used to her calling him by the same name. He drew an arm around his wife and pulled her closer to him. They could both feel the pain radiating off their son. 

 

Albus shook his head slowly. It wasn’t something that he really wanted to share with them all. Rose nudged his shoulder gently, trying to prompt him but he just looked up at her, helpless.

 

“Scorpius thinks he’s evil” Rose said for him. 

 

“What?” Harry muttered.

 

“Scorpius is as far from evil as you can get” Ginny mused.

 

“We know that but ... “ Rose looked at Albus for a moment as if checking if he was going to take over or let her continue. Albus wasn’t looking at her, but staring at the ground instead. He’d gone very still and she could tell that he just wanted everything to stop and shut down. “His nightmares have been getting worse” she finished. 

 

Everyone paused, looking at each other. Draco dropped his head into his hands for a moment. He’d never wanted his son to suffer like this, and there’d been nothing he could do to stop it. 

 

“He’s starting to believe them” Rose continued. She could feel how uncomfortable this was making Albus. It wasn’t a conversation that he wanted to have at all. She was sure he would rather it all just magically go away but they needed to face this head on. 

 

“Them?” Professor McGonagall asked.

 

“The nightmares. I guess what he sees really” Rose explained.

 

“Albus, do you know what happens in the nightmares?” Ginny asked him, her voice gentle. She was trying to be warm and comforting because Albus had started tearing up again and it was a sight that was destroying her. Harry’s arm around her tightened when he noticed as well.

  
“Please don’t make me talk about it” Albus whispered, not looking at any of them. “You don’t see him after they happen. I can’t talk about that”.

 

“Albus, it would really help if you did”.

 

He shook his head furiously. They were thoughts that had been playing and replaying in his head since the time turner incident. They weren’t something that he could put into words. Albus needed to leave. He needed to get away from here and all the questions that they had. He couldn’t stay here any longer. “It’s just the PTSD” he said, “like you had dad” he looked up at his father. “It’s just stress”.

 

Harry looked as helpless as Albus felt in that moment. 

 

“I’m sorry” he muttered before running from the room. He heard Rose call out after him but he just needed to be alone. He hoped that she wouldn’t follow him.

 

“Let him go” Draco spoke up, looking up at the confused Potters and Professor McGonagall as Rose stopped in her tracks. “He just needs some time”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was quite late compared to when I usually post and that's because I was at work and then I was tired and then I got distracted and almost forgot but there you go. There's no excuse really, Shout out to my lovely friend Lydia for reminding me to post in a very subtle and supportive way.  
> I'll see you all again soon!


	5. Don't Dwell In Dreams

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Monday everyone! Here's the new chapter. I hope you all like it! :)

Albus wanted nothing more than for the last year to be erased from his memory. He didn’t care what the consequences were. He just wanted everything that happened to be gone. But going back in time is what had started all this mess and even just the thought of doing it again was making him feel sick. The hallways were quiet up this end of the castle and Albus had never been more grateful for the space that allowed him. He sunk to the floor, leaning against the wall behind him and dropping his head into his hands. What was killing him the most was that he didn’t know how to help Scorpius. This was all his fault and he had no idea how he was going to fix it. And from the looks on everyone else’s faces they had no idea either. He wanted to disappear. When someone sat next to him, Albus looked up and was surprised to see his brother. James hadn’t even been in the room with everyone else.

 

“I know what you’re thinking” James said, “but I heard that something had happened to Scorpius so I knew you would be here”.

 

“You know me so well” Albus muttered, leaned his head back against the wall and stared up at the ceiling. 

 

“Talk to me, Al” he nudged him gently.

 

“I feel so helpless. There doesn’t seem to be anything I can do and I feel so guilty all the time because the time turner was my idea and now look where that’s brought us” he moved a hand in the direction of the Infirmary doors. 

 

“I know it feels like this is all your shoulders but it’s not. Whether it was your idea or not the two of you went through all of it together. It’s neither of your faults. You can’t be held in responsibility when you had no idea what you were doing”.

 

“But I should have!” Albus interrupted. “I should have known this would end badly. I should have researched. I should have gone to Rose or you or Lily for help but I didn’t and no -”.

 

“Al” James placed a hand on his brother’s shoulder, “breathe”.

 

Albus sniffled, wiping his nose on the sleeve of his robe unceremoniously. “I’m so scared of losing him, James” he admitted. “He thinks he’s going to become evil. Like the version of himself that he saw in the other reality. There’s no evil in him, James. I know it”.

 

“You of all people would know” James agreed. “You know his entire soul”.

 

“I don’t want him to try and convince himself that he’s evil. His mind will play tricks on him then. He won’t be himself”.

 

James nodded, agreeing entirely. “You’re right. The PTSD won’t help with that either”.

 

“Have I told you much about what he saw while none of us existed?” Albus looked up at him

 

“Not really. I didn’t think you’d want to”.

 

“So Umbridge was headmaster. Voldemort wasn’t dead and Scorpius was evil” Albus explained. “Polly Chapman had a crush on him and everything”.

 

James laughed at that. “Of course she did” he smirked. 

 

“He’s worried that he brought that evil self back with him, even though it’s impossible because that version of him never really existed”.

 

“I guess I can see his side of it” James mused. “It’s not really a nice thought”.

 

“That’s what he sees in his nightmares” Albus muttered. “He sees himself as that version of himself. And they’ve been getting so much worse”.

 

“How so?”.

 

“Well last night he killed me” Albus replied, looking away from James and twisting his hands in his lap.

 

“Oh”.

 

“Yeah” Albus laughed. It sounded strained and he ran a hand through his messier-than-usual hair to cover it up.

 

James nudged him gently with his elbow. “He’s worried that he’ll hurt you” he said.

 

Albus nodded, continuing to stare at the ground.

 

“That’s his worse fear, isn’t it?”.

 

“I don’t know” Albus admitted. “You don’t see him after nightmares, James. He looks so lost and confused. Last night he was so upset and he didn’t want me to leave and I just stayed with him for the rest of the night”.

 

James was secretly happy that Albus wasn’t looking at him because that meant that his brother missed the smirk that he couldn’t contain. “I’m sure he needed that” he replied, composing himself again.

 

“I think it helped. Even just a little, but it’s consuming him. It’s almost like I can feel him slipping away, James. It’s horrible. I hate it”.

 

“I don’t think Rose has told you this but Aunt Hermione sent her a book on time turners. Something that’s in the restricted section so she couldn’t get to it here” James explained.

 

“What? Why?”.

 

“It’s an absolute monstrosity of a book. I’ve seen it. It’s massive. In a really large book there’s bound to be something that helps him. Even if it just leads to some other source. You’re not the only one working on this, Al. We’re all going to help him with you”.

 

Albus nudged him back finally and that was his way of letting James know that he was feeling a little better. “I guess if I had to have an annoying older brother, I’m glad it’s you” he smiled faintly.

 

“And I have to by stuck with a dork for a younger brother I’m glad it’s you” James smirked. He ruffled Albus’ hair and laughed as he tried to bat his hands out of the way. Soon enough the two of them were laughing together. “You’re stronger than you think, Al. Scorpius knows that”.

 

“I told him that we’d fight through this together. I meant it”.

 

James smiled and him and stood, brushing down his robes absently. “I know it’s painful for you” he said, offering Albus his hand to help him up, “but you need to tell mum and dad and Mr. Malfoy what you know. Oh, and Professor McGonagall of course”.

 

Albus nodded and took James’ hand, letting his brother pull him up. “I can do that” he nodded and followed James to the doors of the Infirmary again. 

 

***

 

When the doors snapped open again all eyes in the room turned and watched the Potter boys enter. Albus still looked weary but their was a determination that Rose recognised from whenever he put his mind to something. Once Albus focused on something, it was almost like he had tunnel vision of sorts. It helped him build up the courage to complete a task. James looked a little more on edge than usual. It was obvious that he knew there was a lot at stake. Rose saw his eyes’ flick towards Scorpius and Draco and away again quickly. He accepted a quick hug from both his parents. 

 

“We have to stop meeting like this” he smirked, trying his best to lighten the mood. Rose only wished that it would have worked. 

 

“Any change?” Albus asked quietly. 

 

Rose shook her head.

 

“Basically he’s in a coma then”.

 

Rose pulled Albus into a hug. It was something that she should have done a long time ago, and maybe if she’d done more of it then none of this would have happened. But she knew better than to let herself drown in any sort of guilt. This was no one’s fault and never would be. “Basically” she confirmed. 

 

“I can talk about it” he muttered, pulling away. “But it’s not easy for me”.

 

“They know that” she reassured. “Take your time”.

 

Albus turned to face his parents again, keeping his eyes trained on the two of them to help keep himself focused. He took a deep breath before speaking. “When we travelled back in time again Scorpius ended up in a reality where none of us existed. Dad, Voldemort killed you during the Battle of Hogwarts and Scorpius was evil. He’s starting to believe that he brought that evil version of himself back with him, even though he didn’t”. Albus could feel Rose’s hand on his shoulder. James had moved to stand next to him as well. It helped. “The nightmares involve that world and what he was in it. Even though it never really existed and that version of him never really existed”. 

 

Ginny seemed to understand where this was going straight away. Harry, on the other hand, appeared to be in his usual state of slight confusion.

 

Albus paused, not wanting to say his next sentence. James and Rose shared a look, deciding which of them would do it for him. 

 

“He killed Albus last night” James supplied. “Well, not the real Scorpius but you get the point”.

 

The room fell into silence. Albus wondered briefly if anyone else could hear how loudly his heart was beating in his chest. Professor McGonagall was the first to recover.

 

“Thank you, Mr. Potter. You three should return to your classes now” she said. There was a strain in her voice that hadn’t been there in years. 

 

Albus nodded slowly, letting Rose tug on the sleeve of his robes and lead him to the door. James hesitated for a moment, eyes flicking between everyone else in the room. He heard the door close behind Rose and Albus and knew that he needed to leave but couldn’t quite get his feet to move. 

 

“James” Ginny prompted.

 

“There’s a very ominous feeling around” he said. “I don’t know if it’s just me or not but there’s something larger here. Larger than all of us”.

 

“That’s very cryptic of you, James” his father commented.

 

“Mum knows what I mean” he shrugged, starting to make his way to the door.

 

Harry looked at his wife, a question in his eyes. 

 

“James!” Ginny called after him.

 

James turned, his hand pausing on the doorknob.

 

“Look after your brother”.

 

He nodded before leaving the room. 

 

***

 

Albus had never had to be in the Slytherin Dungeon without Scorpius. The two of them had shared a dorm every year since they started at Hogwarts. Hell, the two of them spent pretty much every waking moment together as well. Albus never really wished that he’d been sorted in Gryffindor. Maybe he had for the first month or so in his first year but he’d adjusted to being a Slytherin. The only bad thing about it is that now that Scorpius wasn’t with him he was awfully alone. At least if he was in Gryffindor he would have his family to be with. The common room had been full of laughter and it had made him feel slightly sick so Albus had ended up in his dorm. He was sitting on his bed and desperately trying to go over notes for Potions but he couldn’t focus. He knew that he had homework but he wasn’t in the right mindset to work on that either. So instead he was forced to be alone with his thoughts. A place that he’d rather avoid more than anything else. 

 

As the night drew on Albus was starting to realise just how exhausted he was. He wasn’t sure if he deserved sleep. He wasn’t sure if he deserved anything at this point, but he’d have to write up notes for Scorpius in all the classes that he missed. He’d need to be well rested for that. Paying attention in class wasn’t his strong suit. When Albus’ roommates all started making their way up to the dorm he decided that it was probably best to just  _ try  _ and get some sleep. Even if he ended up just lying and staring up at the green canopy above him for a few hours. Albus looked towards the window in their room absently. It was too dark to truly see anything but Albus could sort of make out a silhouette swim passed. He thought it definitely seemed to be the giant squid that resided in the Black Lake. Albus couldn’t help remembering Scorpius’ reaction when he first saw the squid in their first year. 

 

_ “Whoaaaaa! Albus do you see that! Look out the window. There’s a squid. It’s THE squid, Albus. The Giant Squid. The Giant Squid is outside our dorm room! I’ve read about it but wow look. It’s really right there!”. _

 

***

 

Rose and James had once again taken over one of the tables in the Gryffindor common room. It was getting late and the amount of people was starting to dwindle as most of the students made their way up to bed but Rose didn’t want to stop reading from the time turner book until she had  _ something _ . Really she should have finished the thing by now but she’d had a lot of distractions around her. Lily had come to sit with them. She was quietly playing a game of wizard’s chess with James. She’d heard that something had happened to Scorpius and wanted to ask the two of them about it. There were already about 300 rumors traversing the castle about it at different stages of ridiculousness. Rose dropped her head into her hands for a moment, prompting the attention of the other two at the table.

 

“What is it?” Lily asked.

  
“Did you find something?” James added.

 

Rose nodded. The look on her face was nothing less than haunted and that didn’t reassure the two of them in the slightest. She cleared her throat before reading from the book in front of her. “Travelling with time turners is a very dangerous practice. No witch or wizard without precarious training should even attempt this. Time should not be to played with and a witch or wizard should not go back more than a few hours. Or a few days at the most”.

 

“Albus and Scorpius went back decades” Lily reminded. “What does that mean for them?”.

 

“If a witch or wizard was to go back any further than this allocated time there will be grave consequences” she continued.

 

“That’s reassuring” James muttered. 

 

“Does it say what the consequences are?”.

 

Rose nodded, taking a deep breath before continuing. “These consequences can be serious injury to the mind and/or body, death, or even if the act is incredibly reckless, a rift in time”.

 

“A rift in time?” Lily asked. “Like in Doctor Who?”.

 

“Like in Doctor Who” Rose confirmed. 

 

“Give me that” James said, sliding the book towards himself and almost knocking over the chess set in the process. “A rift in time” he read, “can cause aspects of the past to filter into the present. Wait what?”.

 

“Oh no” Rose whispered. 

 

“What does that mean?” Lily asked.

 

“Aspects of the past. But it wasn’t the real past” she explained.

 

“Rose, in English if you please” James teased.

 

“Scorpius was evil and Voldemort was alive” she said. “Uncle Harry’s scar is hurting and Scorpius is getting nightmares what does that tell you?”.

 

James groaned.

 

“But he can’t be back” Lily replied. “He’s dead”.

 

“Maybe in this world but not in that one”.

 

“So you’re saying if we don’t figure out how to close the rift then Voldemort will come back?” James asked.

 

“Sort of?” Rose muttered. “I don’t really know the extent of it but I think it’s even bigger than that”.

 

“Wait” James whispered. “None of us existed in that other world. Will we disappear?” he asked.

 

“I don’t … I don’t know, James”.

 

“We have to go to Professor McGonagall” Lily said, starting to pack up the chess board quickly. 

 

“It’s almost past curfew” Rose reminded.

 

“I’m head boy” James replied, sitting up straighter and puffing up his chest a little. “It’s my responsibility to bring any threat to the Head of House. I can get us to her”.

 

“Very brave of you” Rose smirked.

 

Lily snapped the chessboard shut and looked at the two of them. “Well, are we doing this or not?”.

 

“We’re doing this” James nodded.

 

“I think the impending end of the world is a good enough excuse to be caught with a forbidden book in my possession don’t you?” Rose added, standing. There were the last people left in the common room so there was no one there to stop them as they snuck out of through the Fat Lady’s portrait. 

 

“Absolutely”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm only half awake while writing these little notes but thank you all for reading this. Really. It means a lot to me.  
> I'll see you next week!


	6. I Solemnly Swear I Am Up To No Good

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Super sorry for the delay in posting this chapter!!! I keep hitting writer's block on this fic so I might have to slow down with the updates (I've also been working a lot more on Stargazing and I know it's not good to work on two fics at the same time but I'm doing it anyway).  
> I hope you all like it!

The castle was eerily silent as the three of them made their way through the empty hallways and towards Professor McGonagall’s office. It was definitely past curfew now and if Filch caught them they could expect detentions for the rest of the year. But there was too much at stake to even worry about that. James was at the front, walking with a clear purpose and doing his best to seem as uptight as the previous head boys of Gryffindor. He had a duty to his house, and above that, a duty to his family to report anything that he deemed necessary to their Head of House. This was definitely in that category and even if Filch did stop them he would stand his ground. Rose and Lily were behind him. Rose had the time turner book clutched to her chest. She’d memorised the number of the page they needed and was concentrating solely on that in the hope that it would keep her calm. This was bigger than all of them and she didn’t want to seem like she was scared. She could tell that Lily felt much the same. She was holding herself in the same way James was, hoping to appear as brave as he did. None of them had spoken since they’d left the common room and even if the silence was deafening they needed to stay as quiet as they could in order to avoid being caught. Rose thought for a moment that the paintings would have been able to spy on them but looking around she noticed that they were all asleep anyway. Thank Merlin for that. 

 

A beam of light appeared up ahead and James quickly pulled the two girls to the side of the hallway. They hid quickly behind a nook in the wall. Lily clasped her hand over her mouth as if she was scared her breathing would be too noisy and lead Filch to them. Rose had her eyes squeezed shut as if she was blocking out the moment altogether.

 

“Do you hear something, Mrs. Norris?” the three of them heard Filch ask his cat fondly. 

 

James could hear the padding of her paws against the floor as well as the footsteps of her owner. His fear making him hyper aware. He wasn’t sure why Filch had named every cat that he’d ever had the same but he knew that now wasn’t the time to think about that. Lily grabbed onto his hand, squeezing hard and he squeezed back until the footsteps were well out of earshot. He pulled on Lily’s hand gently, leading her back into the hallway and towards McGonagall’s office again. 

 

Rose had never been more relieved in her life than when the three of them finally reached the gargoyle. “Sherbert lemon” she whispered, and waited as the stairs began to appear before them. The three of them dashed their way up. It occurred to her then that there was a possibility that Professor McGonagall wasn’t even in her office and that all of this had been for nothing but she heard voices inside the room as they reached the door.

 

“Mum and dad are in there” Lily whispered, recognising the voices of her parents immediately.

 

“I wonder why they’re still here” James mused.

 

“Probably because of Albus” Rose muttered. 

 

“Good point”.

 

Rose paused, her hand resting on the doorknob as she took a deep breath. “Ready?” she looked between her two cousins. When she received two determined nods she pushed the door open, making her way into the room quickly. 

 

“Miss. Granger-Weasley-”.

 

“I’m sorry Professor, but you know I wouldn’t be here to disturb you at this hour if it wasn’t an emergency” she interrupted stopping in front of her. She quickly flipped to the right page before handing the book over. “I know it’s a forbidden book but I couldn’t just sit around and do nothing to help so I asked my mum to send it to me” she explained. 

 

Professor McGonagall studied her for a moment over her glasses before turning to read the indicated page. She found quite easily what Rose had wanted her to read and understanding dawned on her face. “No punishment will be awarded for your bravely, Miss. Granger-Weasley” she said, looking up at Rose again. “Potters, you’ll want to look at this as well” she handed the book to Harry.

 

“We have to tell my mum” Rose said. 

 

Professor McGonagall nodded. “Thank you for bringing this to my attention. Now please, the three of you return to your dorms”.

 

Lily clung to her mother for a moment before grabbing James’ hand and starting towards the doors again.

 

“Professor” Rose hesitated. “If it’s ok, I’d like to request that we all keep this from Albus. He has enough on his mind right now”.

 

“As you wish”.

 

Rose tried to offer a smile to her aunt and uncle but knew it wouldn’t have come out quite as well as she wanted it to. She followed James and Lily to the doors and they carefully made their way back to the common room. She didn’t even wake any of her roommates as she slipped into bed. Maybe it had been her lucky night. If that’s what you could call it. 

 

***

  
  


Albus had decided that he never wanted to be away from Scorpius again after this. The castle was so empty without him even though there were hundreds of students in it. The next day at breakfast Rose, James and Lily all joined him at the Slytherin table. They all ignored the strange looks that the others at the table were giving them and tried to lighten the mood. For some reason Albus felt like they were hiding something from him, but for all he knew it could just the stress of everything getting to them as well. He couldn’t blame them if that was the case so he let himself get lost in the moment. He did love his family, and he missed a lot of time that they spent together since everyone was always so busy with classes and everything else during the school year. By the end of breakfast he somehow owed Lily a game of chess and James a game of exploding snap. 

 

Notetaking wasn’t one of Albus’ talents and it often took him a lot of time to legitimately focus on his school work but he had to take notes for Scorpius or he would probably kill him. At least, that’s what he was trying to convince himself. He needed to stay focused. And not on the bad stuff, which was all he seemed to be able to focus on. So he had sat next to Rose in all the classes they had together because Rose was fantastic at taking notes and he knew that if he started zoning out he could quickly check hers to see what he’d missed. Most of the time he found himself furiously writing down whatever he thought Scorpius would find important. He knew Scorpius well enough that  _ all  _ of it was important so his hand was often aching a little by the end of class. 

 

“How do you do this?” Albus asked Rose, shaking his hand absently to see if that would help at all. The two of them were walking to Astronomy but his hand was still jittery from their Charms lesson.

 

“It takes a lot of practice” she explained. “Once you get used to it, it gets a lot easier”.

 

“I don’t think I want to get used to it” he muttered.

 

Rose laughed and nudged him gently. “I knew that Scorpius was always the brains in your relationship” she teased.

 

“What am I then?”.

 

“The sarcasm?” she offered.

 

“I can work with that” he nodded.

 

Rose smirked. “You are doing ok, aren’t you?” she asked. “You know, with everything that’s happened?”.

 

“I want to say yes but it doesn’t feel right to lie to you” he shrugged. 

 

“He’ll be back before you know it” she tried.

 

“The next quidditch game is tomorrow” Albus looked at her. “He’s never missed a game before”.

 

“He’ll be there” she said. “Even if I have to wake him up myself”.

  
“I don’t think Madam Pomfrey will let you do that”.

 

“Just you wait”.

 

Albus smiled at that. “I don’t think I’ve thanked you yet” he said, “but thanks for, you know, everything”.

  
“Your one friend is in an induced coma do you seriously think that I would let you wander the castle alone? You’d get horribly lost” she teased. 

 

Albus rolled his eyes. “You’re probably right” he admitted.

 

“See? What kind of cousin would I be if I did that?”.

 

“You’re a great cousin” he smiled at her.

 

“Even after how I treated you the last few years?” she muttered, her mood shifting.

 

“Can’t blame you for that. We were kids” he shrugged.

 

“We still are” she reminded.

 

“I guess so”.

 

“Don’t worry, Al” Rose reassured, stopping with the rest of the class as they waited in the astronomy tower. “Everything will be ok. We’ll work this all out. Really”.

 

“Why do I get the feeling this isn’t just about Scorpius?” he asked, looking at her out of the corner of his eye. Maybe she  _ was _ hiding something from him.

 

“It’s always about Scorpius with you” she smirked.

 

‘What’s that supposed to mean?”.

 

“Nothing”.

 

***

 

The Slytherin quidditch team were having a last minute practice before the game tomorrow. Rose had offered to go if Albus needed the support, since she knew that Scorpius often went with him but he assured her that it wouldn’t be a long practice. It was more of a meeting really, to double check that everything was in line for the game tomorrow. They did this before every game, he’d told her. So Rose was left alone again and while she had some Gryffindor friends that she could return to, she had something more important to do. The hallways around the Infirmary were often quiet and she was grateful because that made it easy for her sneak in. Not that she was really sneaking, technically she could visit Scorpius. It wasn’t late or anything and classes had only just finished for the day, but Madam Pomfrey wasn’t around and that made her feel like she was doing something wrong even if she wasn’t. There wasn’t anyone else in the hospital wing besides Scorpius so she made her way over to his bedside. 

 

“Alright Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy” she said, drawing herself up to help build her courage. “If you’re not going to wake up then I’m going to have to make you”.

 

Scorpius’ eyes snapped open and she jumped back, startled.

 

“I’ve actually been awake for about half an hour but Madam Pomfrey isn’t here and apparently I don’t have a book with me” Scorpius said to her, smiling apologetically when he noticed that he’d scared her.

 

“You didn’t even think to look for her or anything? You just thought you’d lie there and then scare the shit out of me?” she asked him.

 

Scorpius shrugged, sitting up in the bed. “I didn’t know you would come” he replied. “And I didn’t want to go wandering around the castle incase someone thought I was a ghost or something. I don’t think I’m supposed to leave here technically”.

 

“Well I’m glad you’re awake” she crossed her hands over her chest absently. “Albus has been driving me crazy”.

 

“Who’s Albus?” he asked, looking up at her. 

 

“Scorpius, if you have amnesia I swear -” she threatened.

 

Scorpius laughed, cutting her off. “I’m just joking, Rose. I know who Albus is. He’s my best friend. Love of my life and all that”.

 

Rose watched as Scorpius’ eyes widened as he registered what he’d said, a blush rising in his cheeks. She giggled.

 

“If you tell him I said that -”.

 

“Oh shush. I can keep a secret” she beamed, dropping into the vacant chair next to his bed. “Now, I don’t know if you’re aware of this but tomorrow is the Slytherin vs. Hufflepuff quidditch game and Albus is petrified that you won’t make it”.

 

“Of course I will. I’ve never missed a game before” he shrugged.

 

“He doesn’t know that you’re awake” she reminded.

  
“So that’s why you threatened to wake me up” he smirked. 

 

“You’re lucky it’s me and not James”.

 

“I’m grateful” he teased.

 

“You still want to sit with us in the Gryffindor stands?” she asked.

 

“If you’ll have me”.

 

“Of course we will. You’re Albus’ family just as much as we are”.

 

Scorpius smiled at that.

  
“Speaking of family, your dad’s been here everyday” Rose said, shifting so she was sitting with her legs crossed and leaning forwards towards him.

 

“Really?” Scorpius looked up at her, an incredible amount of happiness in his eyes.

 

“He’s been worried sick” she explained.

 

Scorpius looked down again. “I guess I’ve given him reason to” he muttered.

 

“I’m sure you didn’t know that you would pass out in the middle of Transfiguration anymore than I did” she shrugged. 

  
“Is that what happened?” he asked. “I don’t really remember”.

 

“Madam Pomfrey told me that your brain sort of shut down from all the stress you were under and over the past few days just slowly recovered”.

 

“I guess that makes sense”.

 

“That’s as simple as I can put it”.

 

“Has Albus been ok? I must have scared him” Scorpius muttered. He was twisting his hands in his lap somewhat nervously. Thinking about how his best friend must have reacted made him feel horrible. He must have been so confused.

 

“I don’t know what he’s like when he’s alone, but we’ve all been keeping an eye on him. You scared him and he’s worried about you but he seems to be doing genuinely ok” Rose replied, she grabbed a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans from the little table next to her and shook it until one fell out, popping it in her mouth quickly. “Ooh strawberry” she smiled.

 

“Is he nervous for the game tomorrow?”.

 

“I think he’s been spending more time thinking about you than the game. Not that he doesn’t do that anyway” she smirked.

  
Scorpius rolled his eyes at that, choosing not to say anything. 

 

“But if you make it tomorrow I’m sure that’d make him feel a lot better about the whole thing” she continued. 

 

“Of course I’ll come. I just hope Madam Pomfrey let’s me”.

 

“If she doesn’t then I’ll have to explain to her that it’s in your best interests” she teased.

 

“Sometimes I wonder why we’re friends” he smirked at her.

 

“No, really. Tell me more about my cousin being the love of your life” Rose beamed.

 

Scorpius groaned and dropped his head into his hands.

 

“You’re no fun”.

 

“If you tell anyone I said that-”.

 

“Your faith in me is admirable, Scorp” she laughed.

 

***

 

Rose waited patiently in the entryway to Hogwarts. She knew that Albus would be returning at any moment and he’d be overjoyed to know that Scorpius was awake. The two of them had talked for a while and she thought that maybe it had helped, even just a little. She hadn’t told him about the rift in time yet knowing that giving him something else to stress over wouldn’t help in the slightest. Rose would avoid telling Albus as well. He was paranoid enough as it was and if he found out that something as terrible as the god awful return of Voldemort could happen … she didn’t want to think about how he would react. Lots of crying most likely. Or probably a fit of anger. Maybe both. 

 

The Slytherin quidditch team started filing slowly back into the castle. The majority of them were talking happily about the prospects of the game tomorrow. They must believe they have a really good shot at winning. Rose knew that that would only put more pressure on Albus. He had the ability to catch the snitch but if he was as distracted as she knew he was then he would worry that that would affect the outcome of the game. If he thought too much about it he would get caught up in his head. She hoped that Scorpius being there would be enough to help with that. Albus was trailing behind the team. He looked even more exhausted than usual, not even managing to smile at her as he spotted her.

 

“Hey” he said.

 

“I have good news” Rose smiled at him.

 

Albus looked at her for a moment. She could tell that he was confused since “good” hadn’t been a word that he’d had experience with of late.

 

“Scorpius is awake” she said.

 

Albus’ eyes lit up and Rose realised that she’d just seen him come alive again. “Really?” he asked her.

 

“Would I lie to you?”.

 

“Can I see him?”.

 

“No I just thought I’d tell you to torture you” she smirked. “Of course you can see him, you git”.

 

Albus and Rose quickly started making their way towards the Infirmary. Rose could tell that he was nervous, even just slightly, but she knew how worried he’d been over the past few days so she couldn’t blame him at all. “Did you see him? Is he ok?” he asked her as she followed along next to him.

 

“He seems to be fine, Al” she smiled.

 

“Really? Have his nightmares come back? I told him he could wake me but he can’t wake me if I’m not with him”.

 

“Albus, everything’s ok” Rose paused, pulling her cousin to a stop as well. “You need to relax” she said gently, “everything’s ok”. Even if she knew that everything was about to get so much worse Albus needed all the reassurance he could get. 

 

He nodded and started walking again. Albus didn’t say anything to her and he didn’t stop again until they’d reached the double doors to the infirmary. There he paused as if he was suddenly unsure of himself. He looked over at her and there seemed to be so much that he wanted to say and yet couldn’t find the words for. Somehow Rose understood exactly what he wanted her to. “I missed him” Albus muttered. “I know that’s stupid but -”.

 

“It’s not stupid” she reassured. “He’s your best friend”.

 

“He’s more than that he’s ...” Albus paused, looking away from her for a moment, “family”.

 

Rose beamed. She was just a little grateful that he wouldn’t see that. She knew that ‘family’ wasn’t the word he’d wanted to use but there was a lack of another one. At least in their current circumstances. Rose gave her cousin a little shove towards the doors. “Go. He’ll be so happy to see you”.

 

Albus nodded. He fiddled with his robes for a minute, suddenly incredibly conscious about how he looked. He looked over at Rose again. She was smiling at him encouragingly. That seemed to help. “I need another push” he admitted. 

 

Rose laughed and pushed open the door for him, nudging him towards it gently. 

 

“Thanks” he muttered before disappearing into the room. 

 

Even though she couldn’t see them, she knew that Scorpius would light up the second Albus appeared. She smiled to herself before starting off down the hallway again. Somehow she found herself wanting to talk to James and Lily. It seemed the three of them had a few bets to make. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll see you all soon <3


	7. You Can't Cancel Quidditch!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the new chapter. It's a quidditch chapter. I hope you guys like it!

Albus had never been more relieved in his life than when Scorpius noticed him and smiled up at him. He could feel all his panic and worry start to subside just at that single gesture. For some reason he was incredibly nervous, and just a little jittery, so he found that he was speaking before he even realised what he was saying. He wasn’t even sure that he was thinking but somehow words had made their own sense. 

 

“I’ve been taking notes in all your classes. Don’t worry. I wrote down everything that I knew you would find important. So I wrote down a lot of stuff but hopefully it all makes sense. I got Rose to check over the notes for me and she said they were good and you know how Rose is really good at note taking so hopefully that reassures you. Oh and I sat next to her in all the classes we have together and she’s really smart. I mean, I knew that she was clever but she’s really good at writing notes so if I guess if she said that your notes are good then they must be good, Scorpius. My hand kept hurting because I was writing so much but it was worth it. Really. I know I’m not in your Runes class but don’t worry because I got Karl to take notes for you. I had to bribe him but the notes are good so I think it was worth it. But maybe let’s never speak of that again. I heard some things I wish I hadn’t” Albus stopped, breathing slightly heavier than usual as his brain caught up with up and he realised that he’d just spurted a whole lot of unnecessary bullshit. 

 

Scorpius was still smiling up at him. His expression was a mix of fondness and amusement. He didn’t say anything and Albus was sure that he was still processing everything he’d just said.

 

The two of them had only hugged three times, all of them within the last year. Albus had never really been a hugger before. Hugs were common in his family but outside of that he’d never really had much of an opinion on them. For some reason all he could think about doing in that moment was hugging Scorpius. Since his brain had locked onto the thought of it he couldn’t stop himself from sitting down next to his best friend and throwing his arms around him. Not that he wanted to stop himself. Scorpius laughed and Albus felt inexplicably alive in that moment. As if a jolt of electricity had run through him. “I missed you” he said, pulling away again.

 

Scorpius was content just to smile at Albus and listen to whatever else his brain decided that he needed to tell him but there were things that he had to say as well. Albus’ hand had gripped onto his shirt and when he realised he pulled away quickly. Scorpius took his hand gently. “I missed you too. I guess I was unconscious the whole time but I still missed you somehow” he replied.

 

Albus couldn’t breathe. He was staring down at their joined hands and desperately thinking of something to say but apparently all the words inside him had dried up. 

 

“As happy as I am that you so diligently took notes in all our classes I’d much rather hear about you” Scorpius continued. “I’m sorry. I know I must have scared you”.

 

“It’s ok. I mean, I’m worried about you but I think I always am” he shrugged. 

 

“But you’ve been ok?”.

 

Albus smiled up at him and squeezed his hand. He nodded. “I’ve been ok. Your dad’s been really nice to me. I’m kind of shocked by it”.

 

“Why?” Scorpius laughed. “It’s impossible not to be nice to you”.

 

“You know, historically a lot of people haven’t” he smirked.

 

“Historically? Are you a few hundred years old now?” he teased.

 

“Absolutely” Albus laughed. “But really, your dad seems to like me and I wasn’t really expecting it”.

 

“Well, I’m glad he does. I plan on keeping you around for a long time” he smirked. “You know, because you’re my best friend”.

 

“I’m content with that”.

 

Scorpius took Albus’ other hand and noted how his best friend stopped breathing for a moment because of it. He wanted Albus so much closer but knew that those kind of thoughts were dangerous. He’d already slipped up that day with Rose. He couldn’t afford to again. “Anything else exciting happen while I was out cold?” he asked, absently playing with Albus’ fingers. 

 

“Not really, but I haven’t been paying that much attention” he admitted. “I beat Lily in a game of wizard’s chess yesterday so I guess that’s something”.

 

“I’m proud of you” Scorpius smiled.

 

“For winning a game of chess?”.

 

“It’s the little things that count, isn’t it? Especially with everything that’s happening” he shrugged.

 

“I guess I can’t fault you there” Albus muttered.

 

“You excited for the game tomorrow?” he asked.

 

“I’m actually really nervous”.

 

“I’ll be there. You know I will”.

 

Albus looked up at him. He didn’t really want to admit that just Scorpius’ presence made him feel better about the whole thing. Somehow he could tell that Scorpius knew anyway. “Thanks” he said.

 

“Just make sure you catch the snitch”.

 

“I will. Just for you” he smirked. 

 

***

 

Though Albus was usually nervous before quidditch games, he was more nervous than ever this time. Maybe there was nothing different about this one but with everything that had happened in the last few months he was more on edge than usual. He wanted to do right by his team and catch the snitch, but he was more than a little concerned that he’d be too distracted to do that. He told Rose that he’d meet with her and Scorpius and they’d walk down to the quidditch pitch together. It was the first game since the time turner incident and there were a lot of students making their way down. Albus wondered briefly if they expected him to have some of attack or something during the game. He knew a lot of people would have enjoyed his misery if that was the case. When Albus spotted his two friends he wanted to believe that it made him calmer but really it just made him more nervous. There would be so many people at the game. He didn’t want to let anyone down. 

 

“Morning sunshine” Rose smirked at him. She could tell how nervous he was and was trying to help him feel a little better.

 

“Morning” he muttered. Scorpius was smiling at him and Albus had forgotten how to breathe. 

 

“You seem nervous” she said.

 

“Just a little” he shrugged. 

 

“You don’t need to be” Scorpius reassured. 

 

“Tell that to my raging anxiety” Albus laughed. 

 

Scorpius nudged him fondly as the three of them started making their way down the quidditch pitch. He didn’t protest when Albus took his hand cautiously. This wasn’t something that they really did but he knew it was just because Albus was trying to ignore his nerves as best he could. He was happy to if it helped Albus stay calm, and it wasn’t like it was something he minded at all.  He caught Rose’s eye and she winked at him. He responded by rolling his eyes and she bit her lip, trying to hold back a laugh.

 

“If it makes you feel any better, Al, the betting pool that James and Hugo setup is aggressively in your favour” Rose smiled over at her cousin fondly.

 

“Not only does the weight of the world rest on my shoulders, but now also the weight of people’s allowances as well” he replied.

 

“Oh, don’t be so dramatic” she laughed. 

 

“I take after my dad” he shrugged.

 

“I have heard that Uncle Harry was the most dramatic wizard of his age while at Hogwarts”.

 

“Can you blame him?”.

 

“I’m not sure how mum and dad put up with him” she smirked.

 

“With a friendship as strong as the three of them have are you really surprised?” Scorpius asked.

 

“I guess you’re right. It’s nice, isn’t it?”.

 

“Friendship goals” Albus laughed. 

 

“I think we’ve already reached that, haven’t we?” Scorpius squeezed his hand gently, his free hand indicating the three of them. 

 

The three of them burst into a fit of laughter. Albus was feeling a lot better than he had a few minutes ago. He gave both Scorpius and Rose a hug before heading off to find the rest of the team. Scorpius and Rose started heading up to the Gryffindor stands, falling easily into step next to each other.

 

“The hand holding was sweet” Rose teased.

 

“He was nervous” Scorpius shrugged. “I think it helped”.

 

“So when are you going to kiss him?” she smirked.

 

“I haven’t thought that far ahead” he admitted.

 

“But you’ve thought about it?”.

 

“Maybe. Why does it matter?” he asked, looking up at her.

 

“I’m just curious” she smiled. “I know how much you two mean to each other”.

 

“You’ve made bets haven’t you?” he smirked at her.

 

“Pffft” she muttered.

 

Scorpius looked at her, raising his eyebrows. 

 

“Ok fine. I have bets” she admitted.

 

He laughed at that. “Why am I not surprised?” he asked.

 

“Well, have you seen the two of you? You’re great for each other. I couldn’t resist ok” Rose defended.

 

Scorpius didn’t say anything else. He just smiled to himself until the two of them reached the other Potters. Lily had enchanted a flag to change to the house colours of whatever team she was going for during quidditch games. It was currently Slytherin green. She beamed at the two of them when she saw them.

 

“Hey!” she greeted them.

 

“Hey Lily” Rose smiled. 

 

“I like the flag” Scorpius complimented. 

 

“Thank you! I think it’s some of my greatest work” she beamed, waving the flag proudly.

 

“I agree”.

 

“Welcome back to the land of the living, Scorpius” James said, offering them a smile as well.

 

“It’s good to be back” he replied.

 

“I hate to say it but you didn’t miss all that much”. 

 

‘Well you  _ almost  _ missed quidditch” Lily reminded.

 

“The key word being almost” James smirked.

 

Scorpius looked around him absently. He’d never been in the Gryffindor stands before, for obvious reasons. He expected there to be some kind of resistance to him being there but no one seemed to mind all that much. There were a few people of others houses there as well. A few scattered Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws chatting away to their Gryffindor friends. Somehow that made him feel a little better.

  
“You’re fine” Rose said to him. “No one minds you being here. Relax”.

 

“If you don’t mind, I might spend more quidditch games up here” he replied. 

 

“Of course we don’t mind. You’re welcome any time, Scorp”.

 

“How does it feel to be an official member of the Albus Potter cheer squad?” James asked him.

  
“Pretty sure Scorpius has been an official member since first year” Rose smirked.

 

“Touche”.

 

Cheers erupted from the crowd as the Slytherin and Hufflepuff teams made their way onto the field. Albus caught the eye of his family and Scorpius and gave them all a quick wave. 

 

“Well that was adorable” Rose commented as they returned his wave.

 

“He’s always adorable” Scorpius muttered.

 

“Oh really now?” she teased.

 

“Did I say that out loud?”. 

 

“You did and it was wonderful” she smirked.

 

Madam Hooch blew the whistle and the two teams flew up in the air. The keepers quickly making their way to their respective goal posts. Hufflepuff took an early lead but the quaffle was passing so quickly between the two teams that it was definitely turning into one of the closest games of the year. The snitch would be the decider again. 

 

“Hufflepuff are on point!” Lily called, watching as a chaser scored another goal for the team.    
  


“Slytherin definitely has their work cut out for them” Hugo mused. His eyes were flicking between players quickly, as if he was studying the strategy of each one. Hugo had always had an interest in quidditch, but never in physically playing the sport. He much preferred to observe.

 

“They’re ready for it. They always stay on top of their practices” Scorpius said.

 

“So do Hufflepuff” Rose replied. “Albus looks concerned”.

 

“Doesn’t he always?” James teased.

 

“There’s a lot resting on him catching the snitch” Scorpius muttered. “He’s worried about getting distracted”.

 

“But if he focuses too hard on not getting distracted won’t that distract him?” Lily asked.

 

“Distractception” Hugo smirked.

 

“Well yes” Scorpius shrugged. “He’ll push through it”.

 

“He always does” Rose smiled. “He’s been worried about you, but it’ll be ok”.

 

“He’ll be even more worried when he finds out my nightmares have already returned” Scorpius muttered.

 

“Already?”.

 

He nodded, his eyes staying trained on Albus.

 

“I’m sorry, Scorpius”.

 

“There’s no need to apologise. I’ll deal with it”.

 

“You don’t have to go through this alone. Remember that” she nudged him gently. 

 

The four of them cringed as a bludger narrowly missed Albus. The snitch still hadn’t appeared and the anticipation within the crowd was growing with every minute that passed. The score was racking up higher and higher, really setting this game apart from the rest. It was obvious that both teams had been practicing hard. 

 

“It’s going to be such a close game” James mused. 

 

“The closest this year” Rose added.

 

“I wonder where the snitch is” Lily muttered, her eyes scanning the pitch in search of it. 

 

Rose caught a streak of gold out of the corner of her eye. “There” she said. 

 

The crowd erupted as the seekers bolted towards the snitch. Albus and the Hufflepuff seeker were next to each other. They were each as determined as the other, intent on catching the gold ball. Albus stopped suddenly a hand flying to his chest absently. 

 

“Something’s wrong!” Lily called as the crowd collectively gasped.

 

Rose and James shared a look. They didn’t want to think about what was happening or what it meant but they knew they’d have to figure this out. Rose spotted Professor McGonagall looking grave amongst the other teachers. 

 

“Come on, Albus” Scorpius whispered. His own chest was somehow aching but he chose to ignore it, instead continuing to focus on the game. He was more worried about Albus anyway. He looked pained and Scorpius didn’t want to think about what would happen if he managed to fall off his broom. 

 

Albus’ eyes started scanning around. Rose thought he was looking for the snitch again but then his eyes locked on Scorpius. Scorpius gave him a quick, confident nod and Albus nodded back. He took a deep breath and started off towards the snitch again, crossing the pitch under the players to try and catch up. The Hufflepuff seeker was gaining on the snitch and he needed to make up for lost time.

 

“He can do this” Rose said.

 

“I know” Scorpius replied.

 

Albus was catching up to the Hufflepuff seeker. The crowd was roaring around them all. Scorpius was holding onto the railing in front of him so tightly that his knuckles had turned completely white but he didn’t mind. He was too focused on his best friend. Rose, James, Lily and Hugo had also leaned forward in anticipation. Lily’s flag was stilled in her hand as she waited in suspense. The chants for both Hufflepuff and Slytherin increased in volume as the crowd locked onto the two seekers.

 

“Come on, Albus” Scorpius repeated. The two seekers were right next to each other. The game could go either way. Time seemed to slow down, the noise of the crowd falling away as he focused on his best friend. Albus was really going for the snitch. He could almost feel the pressure of everything on his shoulders. Whatever had happened, and whatever did from now on, Scorpius just wanted Albus to have this moment. 

 

“Albus Potter has caught the snitch! Slytherin wins!”.

 

Scorpius wasn’t sure if he’d ever heard the crowd scream this loud before, but that might have been because Rose was standing next to him and practically shrieking with joy. Lily and Hugo were jumping up down with excitement. Lily was yelling something along the lines of “that’s my brother!” with so much pride in her voice that Scorpius knew if Albus had been there he would have been emotional. Even James was yelling excitedly. Scorpius decided that he’d sit with the Potters and Granger-Weasleys every quidditch game from then on. The two teams landed and Albus was quickly enveloped in a group hug. Rose grabbed Scorpius’ hand and started pulling him gently towards the stairs.

 

“Come on, let’s go congratulate him!” she called over the excited crowd. 

 

Scorpius didn’t hesitate any longer, following her down the stairs and onto the quidditch pitch. When Albus spotted them he started making his way over to them quickly. He was beaming brighter than Scorpius had seen in months and just the sight of it made his heart swell about twenty sizes. Albus stopped in front of him and Scorpius realised he was still holding the snitch. He held it out to him.

 

“I caught it for you” Albus smiled.

 

Scorpius laughed at that. “You’re adorable” he said.

 

“Mr. Potter. The snitch please”.

 

“Sorry, Madam Hooch” Albus muttered, handing the snitch over to her. 

 

“Good catch” she said to him before disappearing again.

 

Scorpius wasn’t sure who moved first but soon he was clutching Albus in a hug. His best friend laughing against his shoulder. Scorpius could have died right then and he would have been happy. 

 

“It would be cool if you could keep it” he said.

 

“It’s probably a little out of form” Scorpius replied. 

 

Albus pulled away, quickly giving Rose a hug as well. She smirked at Scorpius over her cousin’s shoulder. He just rolled his eyes at her in response.

 

“I did it!” Albus beamed at her as he pulled away. “I really did it!”.

 

“Of course you did” she returned his smile. 

 

“Albus!” Lily called. She, James and Hugo had all appeared and soon enough Albus was surrounded by his family, receiving a lot of hugs and congratulations from them. 

 

“Dad would be really proud of you” James said at one point.

 

Scorpius wasn’t sure but he thought Albus might have teared up a little at that. He knew how strained Albus’ relationship with his father had been that year, but it had improved immensely in the last few months. 

 

“Mum would be proud of you too!” Lily added.

 

Soon enough most of the students had already left the stands and were either making their way off to Hogsmeade or back to the castle. Lily and Hugo were too young for the Hogsmeade trips and James was adamant that he had to collect the money for the betting pool so it was just Albus, Rose and Scorpius who started making their way towards the little town. The three of them were content with that. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll see you soon <3


	8. Fight Again and Keep Fighting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, it's been a while. I'm working on a lot of things at the moment and this lil fic seemed to fall through the cracks of that. I'm sorry about that.

When Albus held Scorpius’ hand all the way to Hogsmeade none of them said anything about it. Not even Rose, though she was smirking almost the entire trip. The three of them kept up idle conversation, mostly about the game as they clung to whatever positive thoughts they could muster. The Three Broomsticks was full of happy Hogwarts students as the three of them arrived and narrowly managed to get a table in the corner, away from most of the other students. They ordered a butterbeer each and were grateful that the taste was a distraction from all the horrible things that had happened that year. But Rose knew that it couldn’t last and she knew that the two boys across from her could sense that. She almost regretted the fact that she had to bring it up.

 

“We have to talk about what happened during the game” she said, leaning forward against the table. 

 

Albus tightened his grip on his almost empty glass and looked down. “I know but I really don’t want to”.

 

“You looked like you were in pain, Al. It needs to be brought up”.

 

“It was just a feeling” he shrugged. “It was nothing”.

 

“It wasn’t nothing” she protested. 

 

“Rose -” he hesitated.

 

“I felt it too” Scorpius muttered, not looking at either of them. “I just ignored it because I was worried about you”.

 

“This is bad” Rose said.

 

“I know” he replied.

 

“Scorp, did you really?” Albus asked him.

 

Scorpius looked at him and nodded. He saw something spark in Albus’ eyes. A lingering sadness that hadn’t disappeared since the time turner incident. 

 

“It felt like death” Albus turned to his cousin. “Like death itself”.

 

Rose wasn’t quite sure how to respond to that. Her eyes widened in shock and she made a mental note to talk to James about this later, and go through the time-turner book again. She was horrified that Albus and Scorpius had felt that way. She hoped they never had to again. 

Albus shifted uncomfortably. This wasn’t something he wanted to talk about. He wished he could ignore all the bad things and only focus on the good but the two of them always went hand in hand. He wasn’t able to avoid them because of that. The mood had turned sour and the laughter of the other people in the pub seemed stark in comparison to what the three of them were feeling. The air around them had turned stale and they had all gone silent. 

 

“I’m sorry” Rose said.

 

“Why?” Scorpius looked up at her.

 

“I’ve been trying to find things that will help but I’ve had no such luck so far” she explained. She couldn’t bring herself to tell them about the rift in time yet. She didn’t want to know how they would react to that, since the two of them already felt guilty enough. 

 

“James mentioned that you had a time turner book” Albus replied, still gazing at the glass in his hands. “I guess I was hoping there would be something”.

 

“I was too. Don’t worry, Al, I haven’t finished the book yet”. 

 

“We have to cling to any kind of hope we have” Scorpius reminded. He shifted closer to his best friend, just slightly. Rested his arm on the table next to Albus, close enough that they were touching. 

  
“You’re right” Albus muttered. “I’m trying”.

  
“I know”.

 

“We’ll pull through this” Rose reminded. “All of us. Together”.

 

***

 

The castle was quiet as Albus and Scorpius made their way back to the Slytherin Dungeon. After returning from Hogsmeade, the two boys, Rose, James, Hugo and Lily all spent some time together in the library. James and Hugo were organising the funds of their betting pool. They needed to ensure that the collection of galleons, sickles and knuts found their way back to their new owners. However suspicious it made have been for two students to be hording a large amount of money, the practice was common around the time of quidditch games or other large events that took place around the castle. The six of them had gratefully gotten lost in the betting pool and any other conversational topics that they brought up. All of them were trying their best to ignore thoughts that had plagued them of late. When Albus and Scorpius had farewelled the others before heading towards their separate houses the two of them had fallen into silence. Their uneasiness was settling in again and neither of them could bring themselves to speak. 

 

“Albus” Scorpius whispered, not wanting to disturb the quiet halls of the castle.

 

“Yeah?”.

 

“The nightmares -”.

 

“I know” Albus said, taking Scorpius’ hand easily. “They’ve returned already”.

 

“How do you know?”.

 

“Just a guess”.

 

Scorpius paused, coming to a stop. He looked down at their joined hands for a moment. Albus pulled away immediately. 

 

“Sorry”.

 

“Why?” Scorpius asked.

 

“You looked uncomfortable”.

 

“It’s not because of you” he reassured. “I was just thinking. I want to ask you something but I don’t know if it’s appropriate”.

 

“I’ll stay with you” Albus said, not looking at him. “Like last time”.

 

“Are you sure?”.

 

“Scorpius, you know I’d do anything to help you”.

 

Scorpius took a step towards Albus, closing the gap between them and stopping in front of him. “When did we become such broken things?” he asked.

 

Albus shook his head, refusing to look up at him. “It’s my fault” he said.

 

“Albus, none of this is your fault”.

 

“ _ All  _ of this is my fault”. 

 

Scorpius grabbed Albus’ chin and tilted it gently so that he was looking up at him. “None of this is your fault” he repeated. Scorpius let go but Albus stayed looking up at him, for a moment something passed between them that neither of them wanted to identify. Albus stepped away first.

 

“At least when we get back everyone else will be asleep” he said, starting off down the corridor again. 

 

Scorpius trailed after him.  _ I love you _ , he thought.  _ I love you I love you I love you _ . 

 

***

 

Harry had never been so bogged down with work. He hadn’t truly felt the weight of the world on his shoulders since he was seventeen but he was slowly remembering what it was like. He had all his best aurors out in the field, trying to locate a rift in time. The problem was that none of them had any idea what they were looking for. There wasn’t much information on it, since no one had created one before. It was all hypothetical. Harry should have been paying more attention to his son in the past year. If he had been then maybe none of this would have happened. 

 

His office was a mess of various papers and books. On top of his usual amount of work he now had this other case. He was giving it as much of priority as he could but his usual cases were starting to pile up. He didn’t sleep all that much anymore, usually up late in the hopes of getting as much done as he could. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t. The was a knock on Harry’s office door. At this time he wasn’t sure who it could be, maybe his wife. 

 

“It’s open!” he called. 

 

Hermione entered. She gazed around the room, taking in how messy the place had become. Harry had never been the neatest person in the world but he’d always taken pride in his office. 

 

“Minister” Harry greeted politely, gazing up from the stack of papers he was currently reading through.

 

“That’s Hermione to you” she smirked. It was a running joke the two of them had and she felt a small burst of pride when Harry still laughed at it. She could see how stressed he was. 

 

Harry took his glasses off and rubbed at his eyes tiredly. The strain of the night was starting to catch up to him. “Can you believe that my son created a rift in time?” he asked her.

 

“I’m not surprised” she smiled, walking over to the desk and dropping into the empty seat in front of it. “He’s your son after all”.

 

“Sometimes I wish Albus had taken less after me and more after his mother” he admitted.

 

“Albus would be the same either way. Ginny is as stubborn as you” she reminded.

 

“Any luck?” Harry asked, cleaning his glasses and putting them back on quickly. He blinked a few times, trying to wake himself up as much as he could as he gazed at one of his best friends. 

 

Hermione shook her head sadly, “Nothing yet”.

 

“Has Rose sent you anything else?”.

 

“Not yet. She’s still focusing on her classes just as much as usual” Hermione explained.

  
“She is your daughter, after all” he smirked. 

 

Hermione laughed at that. “I’m thankful she takes after me and not Ron” she teased.

 

“Just because he’s not here doesn’t mean you get to make fun of him”.

 

“Even if he was here, I would still make fun of him”. 

 

Harry smiled at that. He leaned forward, running his hands through his already messed up hair.

 

“Even with everything that happened to us while we were at Hogwarts, at least we never managed to create a rift in time” she said.

 

“You were responsible with your time turner” he reminded.

 

“Albus thought he was doing the right thing”.

 

“I know. I’m not angry at him. I’m just …”

 

“Worried?” she supplied.

 

“Concerned. I think that covers it” he replied.

 

“Concerned is a good word” she complimented.

 

“The worst is yet to come” he said, a hand going to his scar absently. “I can feel it”.

 

“Is it like a throbbing pain or like the searing pain you had in fifth year?” Hermione asked him, leaning forward against the desk absently. 

 

“It fluctuates between both of them” he said. “Right now it’s just throbbing”.

 

“Does it stop?”.

 

“Sometimes. I genuinely thought that I wouldn’t have to go through this again” he admitted.

 

“I wish you didn’t have to” Hermione muttered. They’d all been through so much in their childhoods. She had genuinely wanted to believe that it was all over, that they could all settle down and have normal lives. But normal had never been a word that applied to them. 

 

“It’s ok” Harry replied. He sighed and dropped his head into his hands again, disregarding the paperwork for the moment. “Albus believes he’s at fault for all of this. He’s guilt ridden and I don’t even know how to reassure him that this isn’t his fault”.

 

“Harry, you’re a good father. I hope that you know that”.

 

“He’s drifting. He’s been drifting all year”.

 

“That’s not your fault. He’s trying to grow into the person he wants to become one day. He has no idea who that is yet” she explained.

 

“Everything I did. Everything that I went through, that we all went through, was so my children wouldn’t have to the same. Now Voldemort could return and we’ll have to go through it all again”.

 

“Just a little amount of adventure. Maybe our lives have been lacking in that recently” she smirked. 

 

“If I have to kill him again, I will. He’s not getting anywhere near my children”.

 

Hermione smiled at that. Harry had never changed. It had been decades since they’d been at Hogwarts but he was still as fiercely protective of the ones he loved as he had been then. She had no doubt that if he felt he needed to he would throw himself into the path of the Dark Lord without hesitation. Her job was that he was never put in that position. They had to find a solution to this. 

 

***

 

“Dammit. Dammit, Albus, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to wake you. I’m sorry” Scorpius muttered into the darkness around them. Not even the usual slight glow from the Black Lake was shining through their window. It must have been incredibly late. 

 

“ _ Insulato _ ” Albus whispered, quickly dropping his wand on the bedside table again and turning back to his slightly shaking best friend. “Scorpius, I told you it’s ok if you wake me I don’t mind. Really”.

 

“It’s like they never stop. They’re in my head all the time and I can never get rid of them” he said. Scorpius’ hands were twisted in the front of Albus’ shirt, helping to keep him sane. Albus was the one person who could truly do that for him. The other would be his father but he was never at Hogwarts, for obvious reasons. Maybe sharing a bed was a bad idea. They did have roommates after all, but with everything that had happened having Albus as close as possible was somehow helping. 

 

“We should talk about it” Albus muttered, a hand pushing some of Scorpius’ hair away from his eyes. “You haven’t told me much of what you saw there. At least, not the details”.

 

“It’s not something I like talking about” he admitted.

 

“I know, but maybe it’ll help you feel better”.

 

“You help me feel better”.

 

Albus smiled at that. Scorpius wasn’t sure how he could see that in the darkness but he could. “You’re sweet when you’re in a state of exhaustion” he teased.

 

“I must be sweet a lot lately then” Scorpius replied.

 

Albus laughed, grateful for the sound proofing charm since there was no way his roommates would have slept through that. He shook his head slowly, smiling at his best friend. “Scorpius, you’re always sweet. Now you should me tell about what happened” he said.

 

“Are you sure you want to hear it?”.

 

“You know I do”.

 

Scorpius hesitated. He pulled on Albus’ shirt absently and somehow Albus took that as an incentive to move closer to him. He wasn’t quite sure why but he definitely wasn’t complaining. He just couldn’t really breathe for some reason. 

 

“Too much?” Albus asked.

 

“No” Scorpius muttered. “It’s nice. Is that weird?”.

 

“Not really” he smiled. “Take your time”.

 

“I guess I just don’t really know where to start”.

 

“How about from the beginning? Or just a place that really stands out to you?” Albus offered. He gently pried one of Scorpius’ hands away from his shirt and intertwined their fingers. 

 

Scorpius knew he was going to have to deal with these  _ feelings  _ at some point but at the moment he just really wanted to get lost in Albus. If only he could do that. It wasn’t very reasonable. “I haven’t told you about the dementor” he said quietly.

 

“You faced a dementor?”.

 

Scorpius nodded. The memories of his trip to the other reality were as clear as could be, the memory of the dementor even more so. “I was with Snape at the time. I’m glad you’ve never seen a dementor before because I never want you to have to feel what it feels like”.

 

“Like death? Like what happened during the quidditch game?” Albus asked.

 

Scorpius paused for a moment. Of course, that’s why it had felt eerily familiar. “Yes” he admitted.

 

“What did you do?”.

 

“I tried to make a patronus. It didn’t quite work. I guess I couldn’t focus hard enough on the happy thoughts” he shrugged.

 

“I don’t think it would be easy. You know, while having the soul sucked out of you” Albus said. 

 

“Snape told me think about you” Scorpius muttered.

 

“About me?”.

 

“He said ‘You’re giving up your kingdom for Albus, right?’. He knew that you’re … important to me”.

 

“Your kingdom? Isn’t that a strange thought” he smiled faintly.

 

“I didn’t want anything in that world. I didn’t want Umbridge to make me head boy and I didn’t want to be evil and I didn’t want to be popular and I don’t want Polly Chapman to like me. I just wanted you” he admitted. “Nothing made sense without you being there”.

 

Albus was struck by that. He knew that he was important to Scorpius. They were best friends. Maybe he just didn’t know what exactly that could mean to someone. “You have me” he said. “You always have me”.

 

Scorpius didn’t know what to say to that. He’d heard Rose say once that there was endless ways you could tell someone you loved them without directly stating it. Maybe a part of him was hoping that that was one of them. He knew that his had been, now he thought of it. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Side note: I know in CC Scorpius did tell Albus about what happened but I'm playing around with that a bit for dramatic effect. I'll see if I can get the next chapter up next week. See you soon <3


	9. What You Fear Most Of All

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again! This isn't quite a long chapter but it's so very, very heavy in emotional. I hope you feel things.
> 
> Also, Chloe, this chapter is for you. Since you wanted an update. Bless you, dear.

Rose was exhausted. She was usually so on top of everything that she never had a reason to sacrifice sleep but she’d been going through the time turner book and she  _ still  _ hadn’t found any more useful information. She was getting restless with the fact that none of them had any idea what was happening or how to stop it. Every day that passed could mean they were a day closer to Voldemort returning, or something just as sinister. She didn’t want to think about that but it was all she thought about. Her solace was that at least James was just as exhausted as she was. Lily had tried to stay up as well but she’d fallen asleep in her chair and that had prompted the two of them to send her up to bed, no matter how much she protested. James just hoped that his grades weren’t slipping as a result. He had to focus on his NEWTs but if his brother was in danger, if any of them were in danger, then that was his priority. 

 

“We have to tell them” Rose said, leaning back in her chair and rubbing at her eyes. She could see the sun starting to rise through one of the windows. It truly had been an all-nighter then. 

 

“They’ve been through so much already” James sighed. “I wish it never came to this”.

 

“So do I but they need to know. We can’t just keep this from them”.

 

“Maybe they’ll know something that can help. Scorpius is clever”.

 

“Scorpius is currently in a state of confusion and plagued with nightmares” she reminded.

 

“And Albus is in a state of paranoia. I don’t think we can discredit them, though” he replied.

 

“I’m so worried about them. I don’t even care that we might all disappear or whatever” she waved a hand absently. “I’m so worried they’re going to lose each other or something”.

 

“What do you mean?” James asked, leaning forward against the table. “They’ve been clinging to each other since first year”.

 

“But if Scorpius keeps convincing himself that he’s evil then he’ll lose himself. Albus wouldn’t be far behind after that”.

 

“You’re right” James muttered. “Maybe we do have to tell them”.

 

“This is all so complicated” she sighed. “I should have just been a better cousin”.

  
“This wasn’t anyone’s fault remember. Maybe the two of them were destined for this”.

 

Rose shot up suddenly. “Destined” she whispered, “oh of course”.

 

“What? What did I say?”.

 

“I haven’t asked Uncle Harry to get anyone to check the remaining prophecies” she explained. “Maybe they’re part of a prophecy”.

 

“That’s reaching” James smirked.

 

“I’m desperate” she replied. “I’ll take anything at this point”.

 

“I can’t blame you” he shrugged.

 

“I’ll have to owl him right away” she scrambled for some blank parchment within the large mass that surrounded their table. 

 

James handed her a quill without hesitation. “You’re better with words than me” he said.

 

***

 

When Harry Potter and his loyal friends decided to save Sirius Black from the grasp of Voldemort in their fifth year, they weren’t the only ones that paid the price. Within the Department of Mysteries, hundreds of prophecies were destroyed, leaving much of the future in complete doubt. Regardless of whether or not a prophecy’s physical form was destroyed it would still occur - such as the case of Harry Potter and the Dark Lord himself - but if it was destroyed then the Ministry had no way of knowing when it would occur or who it had referred to. 

 

The prophecies that remained were relocated temporarily. Each one was examined and, in some cases, relabelled according to urgency. Not all prophecies were certain, one in particular was shrouded in secrecy as no witch or wizard could seem to make sense of it. Or figure out who it related to. So it’s stayed locked away for a few decades now and though it remains it is seemingly forgotten. The only thing that distinguishes it is a small, handwritten label, one that all prophecies are given, with three small words on it:  _ The Cursed Child.  _

 

***

 

Albus wasn’t entirely sure why Rose was waiting outside the Slytherin Dungeon for the two of them the next morning but he knew immediately that something was very, very wrong. Rose never came down to the Slytherin Dungeon. As far as Slytherin had come as a whole there were still a lot of students in the house that could be harmful to anyone related to the Potters. Rose was one of those people, and she was very aware of that, so the fact that she had come down at all must have meant there was something serious going on. Something even more serious than what had already happened that year. There was nothing reassuring about the thought. When she spotted the two of them her expression turned grave and he knew that whatever the reason was for her presence, it would be even worse than anything he could imagine.

 

“Rose, you have to be careful down here. It’s not safe for you” Scorpius muttered. He hadn’t slept a wink the night before, which meant that Albus hadn’t either and the guilt was falling off him in waves. Somehow Rose being there made it even worse, but in his incredibly panicky, sleep deprived state he seemed to be nothing be worried for her. 

 

“I know but I needed to see you two as soon as I could” she answered. Rose pulled Scorpius into a hug that he cautiously accepted. It put Albus on edge. Something was horribly, horribly wrong and he had no idea what it was. He felt like his entire body was shaking with nerves. When she pulled away again she wrapped herself around Albus next, pulling him into a hug as well. 

 

“How long have you been here?” he asked, voice quiet. 

 

“Not too long. Don’t worry, no one would even try to hurt me” she tried to smile as she pulled away again but Albus only truly saw how  _ tired  _ she looked. Maybe everything that happened that year was affecting her just as much. He felt horrible when he realised that he hadn’t been paying attention to her, not really. He was far too worried about Scorpius to even think about anything else. When he looked at her now he could tell that she knew what he was thinking.

 

_ I know. It’s ok. I’m ok, really _ . 

 

“You have something to tell us” Scorpius said. It wasn’t a question. When James rounded the corner with his wand out their suspicion only grew. 

 

“Oh good. You’re both awake” he muttered. He was smiling but something about it was off. It was too tight, too forced. Nothing about this felt right. Albus could tell Scorpius felt the same way. He felt like he was going to be sick. 

 

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

 

“We can’t tell you here” James muttered, coming up behind them and giving them a gentle nudge in the direction of the corridor. 

  
“Is that how serious it is?” Albus’ voice was rising in panic and he didn’t even notice. “It’s so serious that you can’t even tell us?”.

 

“Not here” James repeated. “McGonagall’s office. Please” he added, shoving Albus again. 

 

Albus looked at Rose but she was avoiding his eyes and his mind went into overdrive considering all the terrible things that would cause that as the four of them started walking. He thought briefly of the rest of his family. Were they all ok? Were they all safe? Had something happened overnight? Did someone target one of them? He wanted to be sick. Genuinely sick. He was getting dizzy. His mind spinning out of control and he couldn’t seem to keep up with it. He felt a hand tugging at his and looked up at Scorpius. 

 

“Albus, you’re shaking”. 

 

Albus couldn’t think of anything to say to that. All he managed was a simple, “Oh”. He could hear James and Rose whispering but he couldn’t make out what they were saying. Albus ran a hand through his hair and just looked at his best friend. Scorpius was so pale now. He’d been getting paler ever since they got back but he was almost entirely white now, so much so that he could be mistaken for a Hogwarts ghost. His eyes were so tired, their usual grey slipping into something that looked like dull cement, the light almost entirely gone from them. Albus could tell that some part of his brain was still thinking over the nightmares. He would do anything to take all of that away from him. Even if it meant he had to suffer himself. He didn’t care, he just wanted Scorpius to be ok again. 

 

“Al -”.

 

Albus shook his head, wrapping his arms around Scorpius and pulling him into a hug. That was what he’d really needed. He didn’t mind if Rose and James were there. 

 

“James, we can’t tell them -” Rose whispered.

 

“We have to” James replied. Albus didn’t know what they had to tell them but James sounded so incredibly sure of himself that he knew it must have been something serious. 

 

“Look at him. He’s so shaken. I can’t put him through this -”.

 

“Rose, we don’t have a choice. Maybe they know something. We have to work this out together”.

 

***

 

When the four of them reached Professor McGonagall’s office they weren’t alone. Harry, Ginny, Hermione, Ron, Draco, Hugo and Lily were all present. Lily bounded over to Albus the second she saw him and wrapped him up in a hug. That didn’t make him feel any better because it meant that she knew whatever he was about to be told, and she was clinging to him so tightly that it must be something truly horrible. He still didn’t hesitate to hug her back. Albus didn’t realise that he’d stopped breathing until Lily mentioned it.

 

“Albus, breath” she said, pulling away from him. “You need to breath. Slowly”.

 

He just nodded. His thoughts were spinning in his head far too quickly and he thought he might pass out soon. Just like Scorpius had done in Transfiguration. Maybe he would prefer being unconscious. 

 

“Mr. Potter, Mr. Malfoy, thank you for coming” Professor McGonagall said.

 

Albus’ eyes snapped up to her. She looked strained, like something was heavily weighing on her. He guessed that he’d caused a lot of that this past year. He had to learn to think about how his actions will affect the people around him. 

 

Lily moved back to stand next to her parents. Ginny placed a protective hand on her shoulder. Her other arm was around Harry, and his around her. James had moved to stand with them as well. Albus was just relieved that at least that meant all his family was ok. Ron, Hermione and Hugo were standing together as well. Hermione was wearing her Minister for Magic expression, which she never did when she was around them. Unless she was working. That didn’t help ease his nerves either. Rose went and put an arm around her brother, pulling him protectively against her side. 

 

Draco was standing on the other side of Professor McGonagall. He was staring at the ground and his mouth was a hard line. He was stiff but waves of worry seemed to be radiating off him. 

 

Scorpius took a step closer to Albus, so that their arms were touching again. He was almost tempted to grab onto his hand, but he was aware just how many family members were in the room. He just wanted to feel safe and a little grounded. Albus was the best at that. 

 

The adults looked amongst themselves, as if deciding who should speak next. It seemed that none of them truly wanted to. That wasn’t the least bit reassuring. Professor McGonagall was the first to speak. She closed her eyes for a moment and seemed to take a deep breath. The strain of this situation was so familiar to her, and yet she thought she would never encounter it again. 

 

“Earlier this year, when the two of you travelled back in time using the time turner you created ripples within this world”. She seemed to be choosing her words very carefully. She knew how devastating this would be for them to hear. 

 

Albus grabbed onto Scorpius’ hand. He didn’t want to care who else was in the room with them. He could feel the build up of something disastrous. And Scorpius was shaking next to him. 

 

“You would not have realised this but a rift in time was created”.

 

Everyone seemed to be holding their breath, waiting for the two of them to react.

 

“A rift in time?” Albus asked.

 

Professor McGonagall nodded. 

 

Albus felt his world collapse around him. He wasn’t sure what a rift in time was, but if it was anything like what happened in Doctor Who then he had royally fucked up. This was on him. He needed to escape. He couldn’t stand here anymore. This was all his fault. This was all  _ his  _ fault. Albus let go of Scorpius’ hand and bolted from the room. 

 

Scorpius felt frozen. He felt like time had stopped around him and he was just forced to live in this moment with the weight of what they’d done. They never thought about the possibility of a rift in time. They thought that if time turners existed then they would have been built to handle what they did. He’d read about rifts in time before. The library at Malfoy Manor had a lot of books that were forbidden at Hogwarts but were always interesting to go through. Rifts in time were all theoretical. They were worst case scenario. They’d never happened before, it was all speculation. The concept of them was that elements of the time would filter through into the present should one be caused. Scorpius knew that. He couldn’t dispute the research of witches and wizards into the concept. Scorpius was going to become evil. That was all he knew. He was crying before he realised it. 

 

Rose looked up at James. She was torn between running after Albus and staying here to comfort Scorpius. She’d never seen him cry before. She didn’t realise just how shattered her heart would become because of it.

 

“I’ll go” James said to her, before running after his brother. 

 

Rose moved quickly and pulled Scorpius into a hug. His crying was getting more insistent with every second that passed. She wasn’t sure what was going through his head but she could feel his guilt. She just wished she could assure him that this wasn’t his fault. It wasn’t anyone’s fault. 

 

“Rose, I’m so sorry” Scorpius managed, clutching to her and burying his head against her shoulder. “I’m so sorry”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was A Lot to write. I hope you are as devastated reading this as I was writing it. I'll see you all soon! (hopefully)


	10. Never Can Live

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm gonna quickly start off by saying that this isn't a new update. I was going over this fic again and realised that I somehow managed to mess up the order of some of the chapters and missed one near the beginning (its a numbers thing. I messed up some numbers). So I fixed that up quickly and because I skipped one I had to post this last one as if it was a new one. Very confusing stuff, I know. Alas, here it is again.

“Albus!” James called. He could see Albus up ahead but he knew that he had no intention of stopping. Albus had never really been much of a runner, he was much faster on a broom but not even the weight of the guilt he was currently drowning in seemed to be slowing him down. James knew the only way he would get Albus to talk to him is if he caught up. Fortunately, he knew the castle back to front. He cut down a corridor circling around and almost running into Albus. He grabbed onto his brother’s shoulders quickly to stop him from running away again. 

 

“James, let me go,” he struggled, pulling against his brother’s grip. There were tears flowing freely down his cheeks and his voice was a choked octave higher than usual. 

 

“Not until you listen to me,” James retorted. “We need to talk about this.”

 

“I don’t  _ want  _ to talk about it!”

 

“Well shut up and listen then.” James dropped his hands and Albus stared at him. He didn’t look angry. There wasn’t an ounce of emotion within him that wasn’t some type of dread. “You need to think about what happened with the time turner. You need to think if there’s something we can do to fix this,” he explained.

 

Albus shook his head and looked at the ground instead. His fists were clenched at his sides but he wasn’t intending to do anything with them. He just stabbed his nails into his palms to help keep himself grounded. He knew that sending himself into a panic wouldn’t help. James was right. He had to think. He just didn’t think he could. “You know what happened with the time turner,” he muttered. 

 

“You wanted to save Cedric Diggory but you couldn’t, but what else happened?”

 

“What do you mean what else happened?” Albus looked up at him. “I destroyed the world and then Scorpius had to fix it. I fucked everything up.”

 

“Al, this isn’t your fault.”

 

“Of course it’s my fault! It’s always been my fault!”

 

“Calm down,” James tried. 

 

“I’m not calm. I’ll never be calm again!”.

 

James rolled his eyes at his brother. And people thought  _ he  _ was the dramatic one. “What are you most worried about?” he asked.

 

“Scorpius.”

 

“Ok, stupid question.” James ran a hand through his hair for a moment, trying to think of what to say next. “There has to be something,” he muttered. 

 

“There’s nothing else.”

 

“Don’t give up so easily,” he replied, catching Albus’ eye again. “Don’t you dare let yourself get lost in this.”

  
“We’re all lost anyway so what’s the point?” Albus looked down again, wrapping his arms around himself and avoiding James’ eyes entirely. 

 

“Do you know what a rift in time does?” James asked.

 

“No. I don’t think I want to.”

 

“You need to know how serious this is, Al.” His voice was quieter now, gentle even.

 

Albus looked up at his brother and this shook his head. “I told you, I don’t want to know.”

 

James sighed and grabbed onto Albus’ shoulders again, fighting the instinct to physically shake some sense into him. “You take some time to cool off and let this sink in and then please help us fix this,” he said.

 

“There’s nothing for you to fix,” he muttered. “This is my problem.”

 

“And you’re an idiot if you think we’re going to let you deal with this on your own.”

 

“Well, I  _ am  _ an idiot so you’re right there,” he shrugged.

 

“Al, be serious.”

 

Albus paused for a moment. He seemed to be thinking something over. James dropped his hands again and crossed them over his chest, waiting for him to speak. “Isn’t that your job?” he asked finally.

 

“Huh?”

 

Albus bit down on his lip, fighting back a smile and looked up at his brother. “Being serious? That’s your job. You know, James Sirius.”

 

James stared down at his brother for a long moment. Albus had a way of dealing with his pain through humor but he just hadn’t been expecting it now. He couldn’t hold back the laugh that was threatening to escape from him. Albus looked all too pleased with himself. “Ok, you win that round,” he said, pulling Albus into a hug, “but I’ll get you next time.”

 

Albus sunk into the hug. He and James didn’t really hug much anymore and he found that he was grateful for the comfort. “Do you think Rose has a plan?”

 

“She’s been trying to think of one but we seem to be chasing a lot of dead ends.”

 

“Maybe I can help her. Somehow.”

 

James pulled away and clapped Albus on the back. “Of course you can,” he encouraged. “With all us working on this it’ll be fixed in no time.”

 

Albus rocked back on his heels and shoved his hands into the pockets of his robes. “I hope you’re right.”

 

***

 

All that Scorpius knew was that he seemed to be floating somewhere between existing in the present and being lost in his thoughts. Nothing seemed to be making sense anymore. He was aware that he’d stopped crying. Rose still had a hold on his arm and he thought that maybe she was trying to ground him but it didn’t seem to be working. Maybe in a different time, when he’d thought that he’d had a crush on her, he would have been thrilled to have her holding onto him but right now it wasn’t working, and he knew why. Rose wasn’t Albus, and Albus was who he needed. He didn’t have anyway of stopping himself from realising that. He knew that people were talking. He knew that he should have been listening because it was more than likely important but he just couldn’t focus. He just wanted Albus.

 

The doors were pushed open and the Potter boys re-entered. James quickly made his way back over to his parents, saying something to the two of them in a quiet voice that he wasn’t bothered to register. All he knew that Rose had let go of his arm and he was moving before he realised it, crushing Albus in a hug. 

 

“Hey,” Albus muttered, wrapping his arms around his best friend. “Scorpius, it’s ok. I’ve got you,” he reassured. 

 

Scorpius buried his head against Albus’ shoulder and didn’t let go. “What did we do, Albus?” he whispered.

 

“This isn’t a we problem. This is a me problem.”

 

“No. We’re always a we.”

 

Albus didn’t know what to say to that so he just squeezed Scorpius gently and waited for him to let go. Except he wasn’t. “Maybe we should save the hugs for later,” he said, incredibly aware of the many pairs of eyes on them.

 

“You ashamed of me?” Scorpius joked.

 

“Dork,” Albus smirked as he pulled away. 

 

***

Rose walked next to James in silence. Hugo and Lily were ahead of them, talking in quiet voices and occasionally laughing, the only indication that they were ok. Rose couldn’t seem to find the words that she needed to express what she wanted to say. She was usually so good at that. James was pulling at the sleeves of his robes absently, twisting them in his hands and then releasing only to repeat the motion. The air between them was heavy with all the things that they couldn’t dare to say. 

 

“I’m scared,” Rose managed, her voice barely above a whisper. She was used to being the brave one, but she couldn’t find the strength to be that at the moment.

 

“I am too,” James admitted. He looked more serious that she’d ever seen him and it was more than off-putting. “Not about us but about -”

 

“Albus and Scorpius. I know.”

 

The staircase they were currently walking on shifted, opting to change its position. The two of them sighed heavily, it would take longer to get up to Gryffindor Tower now. 

 

“We’ll meet you up there!” James called. Lily and Hugo had already made it onto the next staircase. They nodded and Lily waved before they continued on their way. 

 

“If the staircases somehow have a sense of humor I think this is it,” Rose muttered.

 

“I wish they would take that out on someone else. I don’t have the energy today,” he shrugged.

 

They made it to the end of the staircase, pausing in front of the library where they’d been led. Rose looked up at the double doors for a moment and cocked her head to the side, deep in thought. Maybe it hadn’t been sense of humor as much as leading them where they truly needed to go. Rose started towards the doors. James followed after her, knowing that she had some kind of idea. 

 

The library was silent. It was getting late and only a few students were milling about. A group of Ravenclaws with textbook spread between them, some Gryffindors in the midst of a quiet conversation, two Hufflepuffs scanning the shelves and holding hands, smiling amongst themselves. Rose knew immediately where she was headed and started off at a quick pace. James just a step behind her. He didn’t question what she was doing and he didn’t speak, just followed her.

 

Rose stopped in front of a very specific shelf in the reference section. They were near the back of the library now. She pulled a thick, leather bound book from the shelves, dusting it off quickly and trying not to crumple under the weight of it. The two of them claimed a nearby table. She dropped the book carefully as James took the seat beside her. The cover read  _ A Registry of the Prophecies Kept in the Department of Mysteries. Property of the Ministry of Magic _ . It was a book that she didn’t think she’d be able to find in the Hogwarts library. At least she wouldn’t be able to, if Divination wasn’t offered as a subject. She was more grateful than ever that it was. 

 

“Prophecies?” James asked. “Do you think this is all part of a prophecy?”.

 

“This book was made before a lot of the prophecies were destroyed, you know, when Uncle Harry wanted to save his godfather.”

 

“In his fifth year,” James nodded. “I’ve heard the story.”

  
“This has all of the prophecies listed that were destroyed as well. Not all of the prophecies were straight forward. Some were cryptic. Some were never truly identified,” she explained.

 

“Oh!” James beamed at her. “So if Albus and Scorpius are part of a prophecy then maybe no one knows!”

 

“Exactly,” she returned his smile. “This is probably one of the largest books I’ve seen. This will probably take a while.”

 

“No time to lose.”

 

***

 

The dorm was completely silent when the two of them got back. All of their roommates were already asleep so they took extra care in crossing the room to their beds. Scorpius tugged on Albus’ arm gently, not wanting to leave his side. Albus quickly casted  _ Insulato _ before joining him. The two of them sat in silence, neither of them knowing what to say. Scorpius was pulling at his robes and twisting his hands in his lap. 

 

“Albus, I don’t want to go back there,” he whispered. “I can’t do that again.”

 

“You won’t have to,” Albus reassured, shuffling a little closer to him. “I promise.”

 

“I don’t think we’re in a situation to be able to  _ promise  _ anything-”

 

“Maybe not but we can fix this.  _ I  _ can fix this.”

 

“This isn’t just  _ yours  _ to fix,” he reminded. 

 

Albus looked over at his best friend. Even in the complete darkness he could make out the infinite worry in Scorpius’ eyes. 

 

Scorpius looked down at his hands instead, as if they’d somehow committed some kind of unspeakable evil that he’d never understand. “You didn’t see it, Al. You weren’t there. The other reality. It was so horrible,” he muttered.

 

Albus took his hands in his and squeezed gently. “Whatever this rift is I know that there’s a way. We can figure it out. It’ll go away and things will go back to normal and we can just pretend that none of this ever happened.”

 

“Albus you didn’t see it. You didn’t  _ hear  _ it. The screaming. They were torturing people. Here, in the castle.  _ People,  _ Albus, people like us …  _ I  _ tortured people.” Scorpius couldn’t bring himself to look at him now. He couldn’t unsee and unhear what he had. Of course it haunted him. He could never go back to normal after that.

 

“ _ You _ didn’t,” he replied firmly. “ _ You  _ are not the Scorpion King.”

 

“But I’m going to become him-”

 

“No. Scorpius, I know you. I  _ know  _ you. You’re not going to become him.”

 

Scorpius looked up at his best friend. Albus was always so sure when it come to him. To them, and their friendship. He always found it really hard to doubt himself when Albus was around. “Albus, I’m not losing you again,” he whispered. 

 

“I’m right here,” he reassured. “I’ll be right here, all night. Ok?”

 

“You’ll stay?”

 

Albus smiled, shuffled closer so that they were right next to each other. “You’re not losing me at any point. I promise.”

 

Logically, Scorpius knew that they couldn’t make promises. They  _ shouldn’t  _ make promises at a time like this, but Albus was so reassuring. And having him this close was somehow exactly what he needed. Albus threw an arm around his shoulders and pulled against him and the only thing that Scorpius could think about was how safe this felt. He rested his head against Albus’ shoulder and tried to get lost in it. Maybe with Albus here, the nightmares wouldn’t come tonight. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm considering continuing this. My resolution this year was to finish off things that I hadn't done so yet. No promises on a time limit though. Hopefully soon.


End file.
